"David Cameron has just launched this poster as part of the Conservative campaign for the European Parliament election.
With the Constitution-cum-Treaty still yet to be ratified in Ireland, Czech Republic and Poland, Mr Cameron said now was the time to "maximise the pressure" on the Government to hold the referendum it promised at the last election. Indeed, he pointed out that the Conservatives were the only party which had stuck by its word on the issue (since the Lib Dems changed their tune as well" (Conservative Home).
Yesterday in The Times whilst predicting a victory for the Tories in the next election, William Hague also suggested that a Tory government would kill the Lisbon treaty and halt the latest process of European integration. However, it's the next sentence which leads me to believe that this is all one big "con".
"He promised immediate legislation for a referendum to reject the treaty if it had not been ratified by the whole of the EU by the time that the Conservatives took power".
"He left open the door to the possibility of the Tories promising a referendum in their election manifesto even if the treaty had been ratified by then".
We don't want empty promises from the Tories, we have had enough of them from Labour to last most of us a lifetime. We want to exercise our rights on what happens to our country in the EU.
IT IS OUR RIGHT! We were promised a referendum by all three parties on the Lisbon Treaty, if the Conservatives go back on this one, they are no better than the Labour Party!
MMMmmmmmm . . . .very interesting! "Immediate legislation" . . ."promising a Referendum" . . .slightly worrying. On the Conservative website, William Hague states:
ReplyDelete"If the Lisbon Treaty is not yet in force at the time of the next general election, and a Conservative Government is elected, we would put the Treaty to a referendum of the British people, recommending a 'no' vote. If the British people rejected the Treaty, we would withdraw Britain's ratification of it.
But if the Treaty is in force we will be in a different situation. In our view, then, political integration would have gone too far, the Treaty would lack democratic legitimacy in this country and we would not let matters rest there.
A Conservative Government would also amend the 1972 European Communities Act so that any future EU Treaty that transfers powers from the United Kingdom to the European Union would be subject to a referendum of the British people. The British people must be in charge of their future in Europe."
THAT sounds promising, but the article in The Times casts doubt over it. They will have NO option to commit during the election campaign.
They need to be much clearer on what some of their policies are. If they were committed to a referendum, they wouldn't be losing so many votes to the BNP, UKIP and other Independents.
ReplyDeleteif it had not been ratified by the whole of the EU by the time that the Conservatives took power".
ReplyDeleteThe situation is very different, as explained by Ms Poppins if the pigs have forced through a ratification. As for believing The Times reporting and spinspeak, well so be it. The Tories announce something, The Times "cast doubt", job done to demolish any debate, Labour almost smile.
I just don't trust the Tories completely to be honest. I have become too suspicious of all politicians to believe anything that they say anymore.
ReplyDelete