When I saw the headline in the Times this morning which said “Cameron on brink of dropping referendum promise over Lisbon treaty,” I was annoyed. Not at David Cameron, I hasten to add, but the journalist who wrote it. Why? Because it is misleading. Worse still is a headline in the Belfast Telegraph indicating that Cameron has signalled a U – turn.
Why is it misleading? Because it gives the clear impression that after the Treaty is ratified by all European states, you can simply turn the clock back and de-construct it with a referendum.
Once all European States have ratified the Treaty, it becomes part of European Law. Those new elements of European Law can not be separated from all the other European law. Therefore, when David Cameron says that the Conservatives will re-negotiate those parts of European Law which are not acceptable, that is entirely consistent with their previous policy. It is a responsible policy. It is advancing Britain’s best interests.
Putting this into political context, those who believe that having a referendum before the Treaty is ratified can be the same thing as having a referendum after it is ratified are deluding themselves.
The latter would be tantamount to a referendum on EU membership in its entirety. UKIP will now accuse the Conservatives of “reneging on their promise.” Those who are informed will know this is a dishonest argument. UKIP’s policy is totally impractical and unworkable in practice. Conservatives need to get that message across, very clearly, and must keep explaining that point until they are ‘blue in the face’
Filed under: Conservative Party, Conservative Party Policy, David Cameron, European constitution, Lisbon Treaty, UKIP, european | Tagged: Conservative Party, David Cameron, Europe, Lisbon Treaty, UKIP
I blame cameron he was cosing up to the sun newspaper and its back fired on him.You only have to look at the article he wrote to sun readers.Seymour cameron has broken a promise you have to face that fact hes dug a hole for himself on this one he will try to spin his way out of it bt the british people saw eventually through blairs spin and they will eventally see straight through cameron who is just blair mark 2
theres an issue of trust here and cameron has shown he has broken a key pledge.which will result in big problems ahead.
Paul,
“…Cameron has shown he has broken a pledge…”
No he has not Paul. You have completely misunderstood the thrust of this post.
seymour he has gone back on his pledge he gave a cast iron pledge in a written article.
Paul,
David Cameron is giving an announcement to the press 4.00 later today. I would recommend that you listen to what he has to say before anything more is said on this topic.
I will watch what he says however just as Blair wrote on walls promising things and he signed his name during the 1998 GF referendum campaign.The article cameron wrote in the sun newspaper and signed in the sun reminds everyone cameron is just Blair mark 2 in disguise.
I have watched cameron and the fact is hes trying to spin his way out of the mess hes got himself in.
The fact is Cameron cannot be trusted he cant be trusted on the Issue of the EU and he cant be trusted with running our country that is quite clear now he says one thing and does another cameron cant be trusted..This will come back to haunt cameron even if he wins power.
The referendum promise over the Lisbon treaty was an “all or nothing” choice i.e. if we say no then it and all its contents fail.
What Cameron is proposing now is to maintain the newly brought into law status quo by stopping any further erosion of power. Additionally he will try to get 27 other countries to give back some of the power….”but this may take the lifetime of a parliment” this is not an equivalent pledge!
I like the conservative party but I’m not a supporter of europe, I would prefer a pledge over our relationship with europe & to be honest like many of the young people my age (20s) I am considering voting away the main two parties. I just hope too many don’t jump a ship too far and land in the BNP camp!
The last commenter is correct. The only way to get back those parts of sovereignty which have been lost is to come out Europe altogther. The choice is effectively to have a referendum on coming out of Europe altogether or to take the Course that Cameron has now pledged. Yesterday, I received a circulatory email from David Cameron which summarises the new policy. I have copied and pasted it below.
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“Yesterday the Lisbon Treaty was signed by the President of the Czech Republic. It is now set to become EU law.
I know from the huge number of letters and emails that I have been receiving how much people will resent the fact we cannot now have the referendum we were promised by Labour.
But I have always been clear that, if this situation came about, I would immediately set out how a Conservative Government would respond.
First, if we win the next election, we will prohibit, by law, the transfer of further power to the EU without a referendum. Never again should it be possible for a British government to transfer power to the EU without the British people’s consent.
Second, we will introduce a United Kingdom Sovereignty Bill to make it clear that ultimate authority stays in this country, in our Parliament.
And third, we want to negotiate three specific guarantees with our European partners over powers that we believe should reside with Britain, not the EU. We will negotiate the return of Britain’s opt-out from social and employment legislation in those areas which have proved most damaging to our economy and public services. We also want a complete opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights. And we would negotiate for a return of powers in criminal justice to prevent EU judges gaining steadily greater control over our criminal justice system.
If I am elected Prime Minister, the British Government I lead will be an active member of the European Union. Like every other Member State, we will fight our corner to advance our national interests. But our guiding principles will be that Britain’s interests are best served by a European Union that is an association of its member states – and we must never allow Britain to slide into a federal Europe”
fact cameron has broken a pledge conservative members are appalled by this but wont say anything for fear of rocking the boat or damaging chances of winning next years gen election.However this will come back to haunt cameron you can rest assured.
anyway time to move on