IWR in the news

14/12/07

UK voters must have their say

Andrew Cope, Telegraph & Argus

The Government will this week sign the new Lisbon Reform Treaty, aka the European Constitutional Treaty.

But will not be bound by the European Union's new powers until Parliament has approved the treaty. This gives us until the end of May to persuade the Government to allow the British people to vote on this massive transfer of control to unaccountable EU bureaucrats.

Most voters in and district already feel that the EU has a powerful influence on our everyday lives, but they may not be aware of the extent of this influence: matters ranging from refuse collection to home information packs and the number of hours we work are decided in EU institutions.

It is estimated that four out of every five new laws originate in

In 2005, the Government promised a referendum on the proposed EU Constitution, allowing British voters the final say on whether they wanted to cede more power to the EU. But now Gordon Brown wants to break this promise.

We never got a chance to vote on the original constitution because the French and Dutch rejected it first. But the EU's leaders have refused to listen and have now reintroduced the rejected Constitution in the guise of a new treaty.

This is a deeply dishonest process as has been made clear by the author of the original constitution, former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, who said: "All earlier proposals will be in the new text, but will be hidden and disguised in some way."

British voters deserve better than this. We should be allowed to have our say on the revised constitution because it gives increased control over our daily lives to the EU.

It is proposed that issues as fundamental as crime, immigration and public services will be decided in . If our elected representatives choose to give away the powers we have entrusted to them, they should ask our permission first.

Gordon Brown has already made important U-turns on issues such as super-casinos and cannabis. We must persuade him to do the same on the granting of a referendum.

We must hold him to Labour's manifesto promise. He himself said: "We've got to honour that manifesto. This is an issue of trust for me with the electorate."

Please support our campaign by registering at www.iwantareferendum.com