IWR in the news
05/03/08
The Politics of EU referendum decision
BBC News
By Adam Fleming
So after months of argument, claim and counter-claim, the House of Commons finally gets its chance to decide whether to put the new EU treaty to the British people in a referendum.
The government needs Parliament to approve the European Union (Amendment) Bill before it can ratify the Lisbon Treaty, which replaced the abandoned EU Constitution.
Normally a bill would be scrutinised by a committee of MPs at this stage, but the government has given the entire House of Commons the chance to debate it.
This move was taken by ministers who can now say the bill is getting the fullest possible scrutiny from people’s elected representatives in Parliament – so a referendum is therefore not needed.
The debate on different parts of the bill has been going on in the Commons for most of the past month – but Wednesday is the last day that MPs can propose amendments to the bill.
Abstain
The Conservatives have tabled an amendment calling for the EU Treaty to be put to a public vote. The debate is set to start at about 1240 GMT with a vote likely late in the afternoon.
The Tory plan needs the support of sizeable numbers of Labour backbenchers and Liberal Democrats.
If all opposition MPs voted for a referendum there would need to be about 34 Labour rebels for it to succeed.
Unfortunately for those in favour of a referendum, the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has ordered his MPs to abstain from the vote.
So even though passions run high on the issue there are probably not enough rebels among the Labour and Lib Dems at Westminster to make the referendum a reality.
At the last election all three major parties committed to a referendum on the EU Constitution in their manifestos at the 2005 General Election.
The government says it is not breaking its pledge because the Lisbon Treaty is a new document. It is merely an “amending treaty” that improves the way the European Union operates, they argue.
Labour rebels
The government denies it is giving away power to Brussels because thte UK has opted out of the treaty in areas such as workers’ right, justice and home affairs. Britain can apply a “brake” if its is unhappy with some EU decisions.
But 30 Labour MPs are prepared to rebel against the government and vote for a referendum, claim the campaign group I Want a Referendum. The Labour MPs Frank Field, Gisela Stewart and Kate Hoey have already vowed to support the Tory amendment.
The Conservatives are asking for a referendum because they say the Lisbon Treaty closely resembles the Constitution that was scrapped after the French and Dutch voted against it in referendums.
They accuse the government of breaking their promise at the General Election.
The Liberal Democrats also say the treaty is significantly different to the constitution.
They say they do want a referendum- but one on the UK’s membership of the EU. That plan was put to a vote on Tuesday but was crushed by 471 votes to 68.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, still new in his job, looks set to see a number of MPs defy his order to abstain – including some of his frontbench spokesmen and spokeswomen.
Historic
Deciding whether to sack or otherwise discipline those MPs will provide him with his first big challenge as leader.
Gordon Brown is also set to face a rebellion in what is probably the biggest vote since he became prime minister, but barring a huge surprise, looks set to get see off the referendum call.
Conservative leader David Cameron is not expected to win the vote, so will be seeking to claim a moral victory even in the referendum amendment is rejected.
It all means that after weeks of Commons debate which has failed to capture the public imagination, the scene is set for one of Parliament’s truly historic occasions.