Monday, October 31, 2011

The EU referendum

A little late too the EU referendum party, but so what it deserves to be kept in the spotlight. Not necessarily the 'rebels' in the Conservative Party, but that Nick Clegg stated in 2008 that:

"Nobody in this country under the age of 51 has ever been asked that simple question."
No! No-one in this country has ever been asked that question. The vote in 1975 was whether we wanted to join the Common Market it was about trade and economy not politics. No one in this country has ever voted directly to join the EU.

The second point is to remember the Eire EU Constitution vote. Everyone recall that? It was supposed to take place in 2005 or 2006 but never happened after the French and Dutch public rejected it. As all member countries needed to agree the constitution was dropped never to be heard from again.

Well at least until it was reformed as the Treaty of Lisbon which contained many of the same elements but amended rather than replaced the old treaties.

This time the people of Eire got to vote and rejected it and as again because everyone needed to agree it was dropped never to be heard from again.

Until the next year when they asked the public if they'd changed their minds and this time they voted for it.

Why is this an important thing to know? Because the EU referendum debate was triggered by public petition. So all those who think that the public has the right to decide for itself how and where our laws are implemented should simply ask again. If people still care they'll get enough votes and they can keep on doing this until they don't or the politicians finally accept what democracy means - People Power.

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