IWR in the news

08/03/08

Making a case for a referendum

Nottingham Evening Post

25,000 Gedling residents voted in a poll on the Lisbon Treaty, with 88% calling for a referendum on the EU agreement. Neville Baxter, chairman of the East Midlands for a Referendum campaign, says their voices need to be heard.

The Government may have won a Commons vote on the EU Treaty, but as far as we are concerned, it has lost the argument.

The results of constituency referendums across the country clearly showed that the British people want a referendum.

In Gedling, we had the highest turn out in the country, with 42% of those eligible to vote returning their ballot papers and an overwhelming majority of 88% said they wanted a referendum.

That means that more people voted in favour of a referendum in Gedling (21,805) than voted for our MP Vernon Coaker at the last General Election (20,329).

In spite of this, on Wednesday, 311 MPs voted against a referendum, 247 voted in favour, and 83 abstained.

Both the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats split over this issue. Labour whips put enormous pressure on the handful of MPs who decided to stick to the manifesto promise and publicly support a referendum.

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg created deep divisions by pressuring his MPs to abstain from the vote.

Pushing the Treaty through Parliament without a referendum lacks all legitimacy. The Government has not convinced people that the Treaty is different to the rejected EU Constitution - on which all three parties promised a referendum.

The Government is now trying to play down the issue, but it won't go away. Here in the East Midlands and nationwide, the I Want A Referendum campaign will do everything we can to keep the pressure on.

The battle will now shift to the Lords where the prospects are much better for a referendum.

Labour MPs who voted with their conscience and against the Government deserve our congratulations, as do the Liberal Democrats who kept their promise. Those MPs who voted to deny their constituents a say should be deeply ashamed of themselves.

With pompous talk about how MPs know best and the voters cannot be trusted, the Government have bludgeoned the bill through the Commons with as little discussion as possible. This shabby tactic will come back to haunt them in the Lords.