Commons Clerks stymie Lib Dem plans
James Forsyth 5:12pm
The Lib Dems are deeply split on the question of whether there should be a referendum on the European Constitution, as they promised in their manifesto. As Fraser explains in this week’s magazine, Ming Campbelll came to a compromise with the pro-referendum forces in the party where the Lib Dems committed themselves to a referendum but not on the constitution, or as we are now meant to call it the Lisbon Treaty, but the whole question of whether or not Britain should stay in the EU.
Nick Clegg has decided to stick with this position as he has no desire to disturb the uneasy calm in the Parliamentary party over the deal. But the clerks in the Commons have thrown a major spanner in the work. They have apparently told the Lib Dems that they can not put down an amendment to the European Union (Ammendment) Bill demanding a referendum on EU membership because it is nothing to do with the Lisbon Treaty. This blows apart the Lib Dem plan to have it both ways and spend the debate demanding a referendum but not on the Treaty itself.
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Comments
Liberty Valence
January 18th, 2008 3:17amServes them right for trying to be dis-ingenuous over the whole EU constitutional debate! How can they honestly call themselves "Lib-Dems" when freedom & democracy are the 2 things they are abandoning over their lock-step approach to the EU! Interestingly, the more they & other EU-philes try to deceive, the more they harden opinion in the UK against continued UK-association with the EU's hard-line members! Certainly among British people I talk with anyway!
Letters From A Tory
January 18th, 2008 8:11amSlight screw up there. I wonder if this will come back to haunt them when the EU hits the limelight again. http://lettersfromatory.wordpress.com
David Parker
January 18th, 2008 12:07pmThe LibDems were, for a long time,( and probably still are)the most europhiliac of all the major political parties. However, it was always an equally definite part of their policy that there should be a referendum before further EU integration. I had hoped that Ming Campbell would have behaved more honourably in this respect, but it is no surprise that Clegg is now trying to evade the issue, a doubtless Huhn would also have done. Even Cameron cannot be relied upon and, though he has shown some opportunistic opposition to the Lisbon Con/Treaty he has yet to show his true colours.
David Parker
January 18th, 2008 12:09pmThe LibDems were, for a long time,( and probably still are)the most europhiliac of all the major political parties. However, it was always an equally definite part of their policy that there should be a referendum before further EU integration. I had hoped that Ming Campbell would have behaved more honourably in this respect, but it is no surprise that Clegg is now trying to evade the issue, a doubtless Huhn would also have done. Even Cameron cannot be relied upon and, though he has shown some opportunistic opposition to the Lisbon Con/Treaty he has yet to show his true colours.
Paul
January 18th, 2008 2:18pmIt does not matter if the Lib-Dems are for or against the EU. The point is we were promised a Referendum on the Treaty (not constitution) and WE the PEOPLE are entitled to one. The comment that the Referemdum has NOTHING to do with the Treaty is a total STITCH-UP .... it has everything to do with the Treaty ..... this is a typical peice of EU trickery .... no wonder 70% of the PEOPLE want their chance to decide upon Joining The EU and their deceitful methods. ..... The PEOPLE will win .... it is simply a matter of time ..... the message is there and the EU Elite are panicking ....
George
January 18th, 2008 4:51pmThe Lisbon Treaty is not the asme as the previously proposed Constitution / Constitutional Treaty. Firstly, unlike the Constitutional Treaty, which repealed all existing EU treaties and replaced them with a new text, the Lisbon Treaty, like the treaties of Amsterdam and Nice, will simply amend existing treaties. Second, there are significant differences in the proposals. For example, the UK has negotiated changes on two key measures in the proposed constitution, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the extension of qualified majority voting (rather than unanimity among all 27 member states) to issues of criminal justice and policing. Third, the treaty now includes a legally binding protocol which says that no UK laws can be ruled to be inconsistent with the Charter and that the Charter creates no new rights enforceable in the UK. And fourth, the UK will be able to choose whether it takes part in judicial and police cooperation (an ‘opt in’) – they won’t be able to be imposed on us. It seems pretty clear to me that those arguing for a referendum on the treaty actually want to leave the EU altogether. Or are they about to tell me that, if they got a referendum and the treaty was rejected in it, they would be happy with the EU as it is. The real question is the one the Lib Dems want put of 'in or out', not whether the pretty minor changes (particularly in relation to Britain) of the Lisbon Treaty get made.