The Tory Leader exposed his own hypocrisy by repeatedly refusing to say whether he would hold a referendum on the amending treaty if he ever became Prime Minister.
Wednesday's Torygraph says Cameron's referendum fight questioned.
And The Times goes further, saying:
David Cameron risked inflaming his party yesterday when he tacitly admitted that it would be too difficult to hold a referendum on the EU reform treaty once it comes into force.Inside The Times, Peter Riddell talks of
The Tory leader is under pressure from MPs and activists to pledge to give the British people a vote on the treaty even if it has been ratified by all 27 EU member states. So far more than 40 Tory MPs have signed a Commons motion calling for a referendum “before or after ratification”.
Cameron's contortions about whether he will promise a referendum on the EU treaty at the next election. He talks of all sorts of uncertainties, when it is clear that there will be no referendum.Cameron is clearly anxious to keep the Euro-sceptics on board by not ruling out a referendum if he were ever to become PM.
But his dilemma demonstrates once again that the Tory Party he attempts to lead is as divided as ever over Europe.
And of course, every member of current Tory front bench who was also there during the Maastrict votes actually voted against a referendum then!!
It was the Tories of course who signed away powers from Westminster to Brussels under Maastrict.
Unlike Maastrict, before signing the current treaty, Gordon Brown insisted on winning red line opt-outs to protect Britain's interests.
Now, where did I put that pot and kettle...
4 comments:
Ron Baxter
Scarborough
Since our Prime Minister and soon-to-be Lord Mayor has effectively handed
compulsory redundancy notices to our parliamentarians, shouldn't we be
looking towards a change of use for the Palace of Westminster, now that it
has virtually no use as the home for our democracy. Perhaps we could use it
" these are just some ideas" a Mime Theatre, an extension to the
Natural History Museum, a tourist information centre,or perhaps a
contemporary Art Gallery. We could even find a genuine social use for this
useless but expensive land by knocking it down altogether and using the
cleared area for social housing, which could be reserved for our essential
workers such as teachers and nurses. Whatever we do with it we need to be
looking now that applications to the European Union regeneration fund before
the cash runs out
Excuse me but are you not breaking your manifesto promise?
A number of Labour MPs seem to think so.
Hi Geoffrey:
As you well know, the manifesto talked of a referendum should there be an EU Constitution, not for an amending treaty which is far less fundamental in changing anything than, say Maastrict or the Single Market agreements.
You will also no doubt be aware that all of Cameron's current front bench who were also there at the time of Maastrict voted AGAINST a referendum then, when real sovereign power was given away by the Tories to Europe.
Yes, a number of Labour MPs think there should be a referendum. I'm sure we could trade names, but there are also a number of Tory MPs - and even MEPs - who think there should NOT be one.
I'm happy for Parliament to decide.
You are very welcome to join in Phil but I have been running a poll re the treaty on my blog this week and so far 88% are against.
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