To have a referendum or not to have a referendum?
31 08 2007Today, former minister for Europe, Keith Vaz MP, as called on the government to hold a referendum on the new EU Reform - you can listen to him here. However, Labour Movement for Europe Executive Committee Member, Owais Rajput (pictured right with Gary Titley MEP), argues against below.
Why must Britain vote on the new EU Treaty? There are dozens of subjects in which public interest in a referendum would be far greater than on obscure tinkering with the EU institutions. Restoring the link between pensions and wages, university top up fees, aspects of immigration, the death penalty and whether to host the Olympic games all spring to mind.
Calls for a referendum on the EU question do not represent a broad based wave of support for deciding matters by referenda, it is merely an opportunist move by the Eurosceptics in their single issue campaign on a subject the general public are not interested in.
If we are to have a referendum on minor adjustments to the European institutions, should we not also have one on the results of the WTO “Doha round” of trade negotiations which will have a significant economic impact? Should we not have one on the expansion of NATO’s remit beyond the North-Atlantic area? Should we not have one on the successor to the Kyoto protocol which will change all our lifestyles? I could go on, but these are all complex issues for which we elect parliamentarians to delve into the details. Britain is a parliamentary democracy and should remain so.
Owais Rajput is a member of the Labour Movement for Europe’s Executive Committee
Sorry, but the Labour Party has organised referendums on issues as insignificant as the creation of a directly elected mayor of Hartlepool, and Blair promised a referendum on the European Constitution. The essence of the Reform Treaty is the same as the Constitution.
Essentially everyone is afraid of what would happen if a referendum is held and no-one (Owais included) has come up with a decent discourse that gives acceptable reasons to oppose a referendum. All of us must try harder, and make sure we don’t sound smug about the issue.