I am an angry man. I am angry because something of value has been stolen from me. Even worse, some people have emailed to suggest that I am implicated in the crime. For others, even if I am not an accessory to the theft, then I have shown insufficient zeal in recovering what has been stolen. I am not an illusionist, however. I cannot just wish away the past and pretend that it hasn't happened. 'The moving finger writes and having writ moves on, not all your piety or wit can have it back to cancel out but half a line, nor all your tears wash out one word of it.' Actions have consequences. The consequences of the re-election of a Labour government in 2005 are all round us, from the catastrophe of the public finances to the very theft of the referendum that was promised us on the European constitution.
That constitution was implemented last week. Remember the history. As the constitution was negotiated in 2003 and 2004, ministers insisted that it was a mere tidying up exercise and there would be no referendum. We mounted an enormous campaign involving petitions and millions of signatures to secure a referendum. Then at the end of 2004 there was a sudden government U turn and Tony Blair announced that there would indeed be a referendum. I have no doubt that his motive was to ensure that the European Constitution did not become an issue during the 2005 election campaign. So, all three major parties went into that campaign committed to calling a referendum on the EU constitution. Within weeks of that election the French and Dutch referendums brought the process to a temporary halt. The EU then sought to reintroduce the constitution by calling it a treaty rather than a constitution, but in reality the documents are identical. The Labour government insisted that the Lisbon Treaty was not the constitution and it was therefore no longer bound by the referendum pledge. We stuck by our referendum pledge and we put down an amendment in Parliament to force the referendum. It was voted down by Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Notwithstanding, we continued to insist that if we came to power and the Treaty was still to be ratified we would hold the promised referendum. Last week the Treaty was fully ratified and we simply cannot continue to offer to hold that referendum. It has been stolen and I haven't got it to give back to you. The referendum that we would have held would have stopped the EU constitution across the whole of Europe. A referendum that we might hold now, wouldn't even have the power to stop it in the United Kingdom.
We cannot offer the referendum that we set out to, but what we can do, and will do, is to prevent this ever happening again. We will amend the 1972 European Communities Act to ensure that if power is ever again to be given to Brussels then it will require a referendum. We will ensure that one of the worst aspects of the EU constitution, its self amending capability, cannot be implemented without the same referendum requirement. We will pass a UK sovereignty bill re-establishing the supremacy of our Parliament for the avoidance of doubt and to prevent further EU judicial creep. Over the lifetime of the next parliament we will seek to renegotiate and to secure the opt-out that we used to enjoy over social and employment policy and which has been given up under Labour. We will also seek to negotiate a similar opt out in respect of criminal law. We will ensure that we are exempt from the Charter of Fundamental Rights which would open the door to further wholesale EU judicial intrusion.
Over the last three years we have drawn attention to the enormous dangers that we saw in the EU constitution. We did not believe that we were exaggerating or making it up. We will have to see, over the lifetime of the next parliament, if our fears are realised. We hope and expect that things will change and that the tide of federalism will be reversed. If, however, Europe continues to go in the wrong direction, then we would have to consider a different relationship with the European Union than the one that we currently enjoy and, of course, any such proposal would then have to be put to the British people in a referendum.
Some of our supporters say that this isn't enough and that they were given a cast iron guarantee of a referendum. Those were indeed the words used by David Cameron to describe his pledge that he gave in that great national institution, The Sun newspaper. So what did The Sun have to say this week? It said this ' it was to Sun readers that David Cameron promised a referendum if the EU constitution remained un – ratified, so we have more right than most to cast a cool eye over his decision to end that campaign but Mr Cameron is right, today the Treaty is a fact of life. So who do we blame for this? Not Mr Cameron, who stuck by his original pledge, we blame deceitful Labour for welching on their written vow to give us a say'.
Any referendum that we might hold now on the constitution would very quickly unravel. It would be seen for what it was: in its effect, an 'in' or 'out' referendum. If we were to offer such a referendum at his time when our priority must be -as a matter of urgency- to address the desperate state of the public finances, voters would rightly think that we had taken leave of our senses.
I have sat impotent on the green benches and watched helplessly as three federalising EU treaties have been passed: Amsterdam; Nice; and now Lisbon. I don't want to be reduced to a spectator shouting from the touchlines any longer. To change things in Europe we first have to gain power and we will only do so by addressing the real priorities of the overwhelming majority of ordinary people. |
