MPs say "no" to referendum
Peter Hoskin 7:06pm
As expected, the Tory proposal for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty has been defeated in the Commons. 248 MPs voted in favour, with 311 voting against. The Treaty should now pass through the Commons unscathed. It’s over to the Lords.
The burning question is of how much damage has been done to the Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems. The latest is that 3 Lib Dem front-benchers have resigned. As I outlined this morning, Clegg now faces the unenviable task of choosing how to punish any other rebels.




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Comments
adrian drummond
March 5th, 2008 7:46pmWill this decision by labour and Liberal MPs (defying their own manifesto commitment on which they were elected) have any effect on opinion polls? I feel that with politicians treating the puplic with such contenpt, the public may well bite back. Or is this just wishful thinking?
TGF UKIP
March 5th, 2008 7:46pmThere must have been a significant number of Tory absentees/abstentions/voting with the Labour Party - names please.
Oscar Miller
March 5th, 2008 7:58pmEither the public will bite back - or the brave new post democratic world has begun. The triumph of the political class indeed. What a betrayal.
Herbert Thornton
March 5th, 2008 8:07pmWe've got to the point, I fear, where the public will not be allowed to bite back.
And to think that there has been so much sneering about the Russian election. The Russians are at least solidly behind their government. The British government doesn't represent the people any more than Mugabe & Co. represent the people of Zimbabwe.
RW
March 5th, 2008 8:21pmSurely the "burning question" is the enormity of the harm which has been done to the people of this country by their so-called elected representatives, who have voted to surrender to a foreign power. These people are traitors.
DB
March 5th, 2008 8:56pm"The burning question is of how much damage has been done to the Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems." No it isn't. The burning question is what we can do now to save our sovereignty.
paul hill
March 5th, 2008 9:21pmWith regard to the economy we pay a very nice young man called Osborne to expose Browns fictional economy for the tenth rate Ponzi scheme that it is. The problem appears to be that Master Osborne is either in a deep coma,mute from birth or does not actually exist (his public appearances being made by Mr Hugh Grant the well known Thespian)
Max Kaye
March 5th, 2008 10:00pmI guess its up to the Irish to secure British independence. Ironic, eh?
Oscar Miller
March 5th, 2008 10:22pmIt's not as if any of these shabby traitors appear to hold any burning idealism about Europe. They certainly haven't communicated any enthusiasm or made a case. It's just a back door, self serving, dirty little deal effected by the political class. And Nick Clegg is their emblem - shallow, deceitful, cocooned in his privilege, contemptuous of the public. Shame on Clegg - shame on Westminster.
TGF UKIP
March 5th, 2008 10:30pmThe Posh Wing of the Tory Party is well represented in the Lords so rest no hope there. They will find an abundance of excuses not to oppose the Government. This whole affair has been downbeat and low key because Dave and his mates chose to have it that way, which well suited Gordon. Clarke & Co may be a tiny minority but they still contol the Tories.
Austin Barry
March 5th, 2008 11:09pmHere in Ireland a rebellious cynical people so disenchanted with Europe that they've co-opted a North Dublin turkey to represent the State at the Eurovision Song Contest, are likely to vote "No" on the Treaty referendum. Why? Because they're tired of trough-guzzling politicians telling them to vote "yes", tired of European expansion and the possibility of alien Turkish Islamists replacing the affable Polish Catholic work-force and finally because they can screw over the pro-Treaty English politicians. Roll on the referendum.
JimmyTimmyRose
March 6th, 2008 12:27amI wonder if Nick Clegg will be the shortest leader of a major (?) political party in modern history. Bring on Vince Cable!
Kevyn Bodman
March 6th, 2008 5:26amLiars, cowards and traitors. Liars, they promised a referendum and they claim the reform treaty is so different from the constitution that the promise is void. Cowards because they haven't got the courage to make a principled, open case for what they believe in because of fear.Someone who knows the right course of action but chooses a different course because of fear can rightly be called a coward. Traitors, they are acting in the interests of foreign powers and damaging their own country. Strong words, I know, but written after a night's sleep and not in hot-blooded anger. Liars, cowards and traitors. Roll on the referendum in Ireland. Roll on a British revolution in the UK.
Ian Hunt
March 6th, 2008 1:52pmMillions of people in this so called democratic country are this morning very angry! It can come as no surprise that if you can't trust them with an expense form, you really shouldn't trust them with your future. Vote English and make sure whom you vote for has a relevance to your constituency. Time to end this foreign and undemocratic rule of England.
Agincourt
March 6th, 2008 5:38pmKeep telling the media - & the politicians in both the Commons & the Lords - that you consider many of the current government's ministers to be two-bit liars. Keep telling them that you, along with the 80+% people in the 10 recent constituency-wide referendums, want referendums on all major EU matters - & especially on the current & extremely treacherous Lisbon Treaty. Keep telling them that you are going to both vote & campaign against anyone who you consider to be a liar, whatever their reasons for lieing, &/or being a traitor to Britain. Keep tyelling them that the government's lies, their casual abandonment of their election manifesto promises, & their refusal to grant the British people a referendum when the people so clearly want one, removes any vestige of legitimacy from this benighted Brown government. Tell them that both sqeaky-clean honesty & involving the people, especially through referendums, is the only acceptable path for politicians now, & that anything less will most probably cost them their parliamentary seats at the next election which is now only 2 years away maximum.