After hours of really insightful discussions about bacon butties, MPs have finally approved the third reading of the #LetBritainDecide Bill in the Commons. The legislation will now pass to the House of Lords, where the fun really begins.
I’ve already written that the Bill has served its purpose in uniting the Conservative party. But it is worth noting that Labour’s position has not moved one jot during this process. Douglas Alexander might have been right when he told the Chamber that ‘this is not a bill about the Conservatives trusting the public but about Conservative backbenchers not trusting a Conservative Prime Minister’, but that scarcely excuses the Labour position, which is to not trust the public at all on Europe.
Alexander was careful not to rule out a referendum, focusing more on the dangers of leaving the European Union rather than his party’s opposition to a plebiscite per se. This is how he responded to a question on what Labour thought about a referendum:
Bill Cash: Could I ask him given the fact that the former Prime Minister Tony Blair promised a referendum on the constitution in the context of this incredibly important bill, will he tell us whether or not the Labour party has ruled out having a referendum on the European Union?
Douglas Alexander: Well, Madam Deputy Speaker, I could not have asked for a kinder intervention given I’m very keen to talk about the views of former prime ministers of the United Kingdom…
All signs currently point to Labour offering some kind of vote after the European elections next year. But I hear that at one point the party banned discussion of the topic in Shadow Cabinet, fearful that the divisions between Shadow Cabinet Ministers would lead to discussions being leaked by those who felt disgruntled. If a party is afraid to let its own senior members discuss Europe, no wonder it is afraid to let the British people have a say on it.
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