Is Brown's word good enough for the public?
Matthew d'Ancona 2:34pm“A flagrant breach of a solemn promise”: that’s how William Hague just described Gordon Brown’s declaration (on the BBC’s Politics Show) that no referendum is necessary on the new EU deal. The experts will argue over the precise extent of jurisprudential overlap between the 2004 Constitution and the freshly-minted 2007 “Reform” agreement. But this will be settled by politics, not legal knowledge. Are the voters willing to accept Gordon’s assertion that no referendum is needed – yes or no? Thus he faces the first test of his authority, and of the nation’s trust in their new Prime Minister. It’s a daunting one.
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Bruce, UK
June 23rd, 2007 5:25pm Report this commentIs Brown's word good enough for the public? NO. His Moral Compass points Due Mendacity.
ken from glos
June 23rd, 2007 6:12pm Report this commentNo his word is not good enough and he is going back on an election manifesto. Let the people decide.
Brian Walker
June 23rd, 2007 6:48pm Report this commentIt would be a good idea for the Tories, William Hague in particular, not to return to scene of ancient, catastrophic defeats. The realpolitik of the situation is that of course there will be no referendum, everybody knows it, so stop flogging a horse that won't get up. Moreover the issue is likely to stay hot for all of six days, up to the moment when Brown launches himself as PM, at his best moment for seizing control of the agenda and holding it to the next election.The Conservatives would be foolish to think of Europe as a counter attraction. After paying ritual attention to the summit and the forthcoming IGC, Cameron must be praying that his party will not impale itself on the European rocks and wreck his modernisation project. Of course Labour's position on a referendum is a mess,its twists and turns a product of the TB/GBs, without which a referendum would never have been mooted. Thanks to the Poles, the real constitutional innovation is postponed to 2014 - double majority voting. Even then this will only become a flashpoint if there are issues to ignite it. Like CAP reform and the endlessly-deferred Lisbon agenda of economic reform perhaps? If they were on the agenda, what side would be Tories be on then? Would they find themselves outflanked once again? Critics and supporters alike are too obsessed with the mechanics of the institution. An organisation of 27 or more states expresses itself much more widely than through the institutional debate. We, all of us, are slowly digesting the expansion of Europe. French farmers,Irish IT hubbers, British would-be single market financiers, Polish plumbers and their customers - we all of us are living through the organic development of a unique Union whose personality - whether legal or not - is as yet far from fully formed as a federal nation State and most probably never will be.
colin
June 25th, 2007 10:15am Report this commentRe Brian Walker's comment above,it is not certain that there will be no referendum;the real constitutional innovation is not only that delayed by the Poles---giving the EU the legal personality of a single country and making the treaty self-amending are among other major issues.The conservatives must fight for a referendum,for the sake of the UK.
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