Murphy is so wrong on the EU
Sorry, minister: The Spectator is right about the EU Treaty
There are two reasons why Jim Murphy, the Europe minister, is wrong and The Spectator right about the question of a referendum on the European Union Reform Treaty (‘The Spectator is wrong to call for an EU referendum’, 22 September).
The first is that the government gave the people a solemn pledge that it would hold one before there was any question of ratifying the European Union Constitutional Treaty, and anyone who takes the trouble (and it does involve a wearisome amount of trouble) to study both documents will find that, to all intents and purposes, the content is the same. While different politicians from different countries state, for their own doubtless high-minded reasons, different views about the matter, I know of no dispassionate analyst who denies this.
Mr Murphy’s attempt to stress the significance of the piffling changes between the two documents is also, incidentally, somewhat undermined by the fact that the government signed up to, and enthusiastically endorsed, the earlier Constitutional Treaty — something he unaccountably forgets to mention.
But the second reason for a referendum is even more important, and one which would have applied whether or not the government had given the pledge it did. It is important not to get hung up over words, whether they begin with a C or even an F, as so many on both sides of the argument do, and to look at the substance.
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Eric Watson
September 27th, 2007 9:08pmThe Spectator is correct to urge a referendum on EU proposals
Eric Watson
September 27th, 2007 9:11pmThre Spectator if correct in calling for a refendum on EU Treaty
Don Anderson
September 28th, 2007 7:48pmSir, Time was . . . A Minister of the Crown would not attempt to mislead. It would have been a resigning matter - not just for him, but for the PM who put him up to it. Fact is . . .that just because the previous EU treaties did not have referenda, the argument that this current one should also bypass the electorate, is entirely spurious. The foregoing treaties which transferred governance, diminished our sovereignty, freedoms and independence, and taxed us without representation, were themselves constitutional and should have warranted referenda. That omission must be put right for the current, culminating treaty which confirms and legitimises all the previous treaties in the name of the new legal entity it creates, confirms the superiority of European law and enshrines the case history of the ECJ, creates the President and the Lord High Foreign Representative (who outranks our Foreign Secretary), decrees that our Ministers when in Council must forget national interests and act solely as officers of the EU and, most importantly, this consolidating treaty is self amending so that, at any time in the future, the omitted trivia such as the flag and the anthem can be restored, and the so-called opt-outs and red lines can be revoked by qualified majority voting, or case law exercised by the ECJ. Having ceded all this power, we may be in no position even to retain sterling in the long run, and be powerless to object. This is the big one. Of course it is constitutional and the people must be asked to approve it. The people clearly want a referendum and it is debasing democracy to refuse one on the consideration that the vote might well be No. Parliament is not competent to debate it, not only because of the Party system, the whips and patronage pressure for jobs, but because it would not be given adequate time (nothing like the 700 hours devoted to the hunting Bill). And although Parliament might discuss it, it would be entirely powerless to rewrite any part of it. The Labour party itself was only supported by 28% of the electorate at the last election so can have no great claim to popular mandate, and Murphy must be painfully aware that a firm promise of a referendum was made at the time. Don Anderson 128 Graham Rd SW19 3SJ Tel: 0208 5421690 As Attachment Bypass Trash Move to: [Previous | Next] [Delete & Prev | Delete & Next] [Message List]