Thursday, October 25, 2007

Bye Bye Backbone

Well, I am beginning to lose hope that we will ever get out of this bloody EU Constitution. The EU have set aside large amounts of cash on their 'Plan D' campaign to 'inform' us meer mortals that it is rather a good thing, and simply a tidying up exercise, rather than a fundamental change in our constitution.

My latest feeling of woe has come because David Cameron and his other Tory leaders appear to have shat out their backbone over the last few days.

David Cameron risked reigniting Tory splits over Europe by signalling on Tuesday he will not bow to media and internal party pressure to promise a Conservative government would hold a referendum on the EU treaty after it becomes law.

The Tory leader tried to duck the issue at a London press conference, saying he would not be drawn on “hypotheticals” that might distract from his campaign for a referendum before parliament votes to approve the treaty next year.


He's right that it would be easier to have a referendum and negotiate before the Treaty has been ratified in Westminster, but seeing as the UK held our only referendum on our membership to the EU once Traitor Heath had signed us up to the Common Market, it doesn't quite ring true.

I suspect the issue is more that the Tories would probably rip themselves apart if, when in power, they held a referendum on the Treaty. It would not just be on what would happen if they got a No vote, which I suspect would happen, but which side the party would campaign for, seeing as withdrawing from it would seriously compromise out position in the EU, which the Tories are committed to remaining part of.

If they campaigned for a yes to stay in the EU the party would suffer from infighting and the leadership would essentially divorce themselves from the grassroots. If they campaigned for a No then they face problems with those in their ranks who want to be 'In Europe and Run by Europe' and if they get a No vote, then they will have problems with their position of wanting to be in Europe but stopping the Treaty by undoing the ratification.

It's a problem for them in the way that it isn't so much a problem for the other parties because Labour and the Lib Dems are utterly committed to selling our country down the river without letting the people decide, nasty rancid cunts that they are.
I suspect it's why Cameron has come out with the news that the Tories will be withdrawing from the EPP-ED in 2009, although who knows where they will go to. It's possibly too early to speculate because the MEPs who will be there with them won'+t be the same as the ones here now. And the only group which really takes their view point is the Independence and Democracy Group, co presided over by UKIP leader Nigel Farage.
A parliamentary motion calling for a public vote on the treaty “before or after ratification” has been signed by 43 eurosceptic Conservative MPs, including Iain Duncan Smith, the former leader, and Graham Brady, the former shadow minister for Europe.

It's a tricky one for them. It wouldn't be a tricky one for me. He gained a lot of public support by saying he would hold a referendum if elected but clearly if he's taking this new stand then that was just lip service to gain support in the polls for an election, or to delay the election which no parties except possibly the Government actually wanted.

And pleasing the electorate is something we should all be used to and be immune from, but I still feel sickened when politicians do things like this. It's not like this is a minor issue; it's one of the biggest issues facing our country today because it's essentially about how we're governed.

Given that the EU have also allocated €4 million for an EU rapid reaction force which also will be involved in civilian problems, it's down to who polices us and who makes the laws which govern us.

If you're concerned about immigration it's the EU you need to look towards. Health? Tax? Education? It's all either directly or indirectly linked.

Can't bury your cat in your garden? EU. Food prices higher than the market would dictate? EU. Fishermen losing their jobs because of fishing quotas? EU. People in developing world having their fishing rights bought up so they can't develop their own industry? EU.

It is a big fucking issue, and it's important we keep 'banging on' about it because otherwise those cunts who govern us will hand our democracy and accountability away.

And if we do get this new treaty, which it looks like we will, then there's little hope for returning to a democratic Britain which governs herself. I shall keep on trying, however. They'll probably lock me up, but I will.

1 comment:

James Higham said...

Trix, the thing I love about you is firstly the colour of your blog and then your unbounded optimism that we ever will get out. Not in the programme, dear girl. I know you're inside there but so am I - it doesn't even come up for discussion.