Latest posting: ITV's Tonight programme, hosted by See a video clip of the launch of campaigning on ITV's Anglia News. We're making the case that: The Democracy Movement is a non-party pressure group to defend liberal democracy in Britain and across Europe. We believe that this is being fundamentally undermined by the single currency, the proposed EU Constitution, and the drive to create a Brussels-based system of government in which all major decisions are taken at the EU centre by undemocratic institutions. click here to read our Statement of Principles in full A majority of MPs voted yesterday evening against a referendum on the A Conservative amendment for a referendum was defeated by a majority of 63 votes - 311 votes to 248. A second referendum amendment, put down by rebel Labour MPs, was defeated by a majority of 64 votes. Click here and enter your postcode on our dedicatedReferendumList website to find out whether your MP voted for or against a referendum. The way that this treaty has been forced through Parliament lacks all legitimacy. Government promises of a public vote, of 'line-by-line scrutiny' and then of plentiful time to debate the treaty have all been broken. Large swathes of vital powers the treaty gifts to remote EU institutions - such as in defence, borders, future treaty revision and voting weights - have been blocked from Parliamentary debate. The verdict of the cross-party House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee that the Treaty is "substantially equivalent"to the EU Constitution has also been completely ignored by the Government and large numbers of MPs. Most serious of all, various polls show that the Government hasutterly failed to convince the public that the Lisbon Treaty is not the EU Constitution re-named, yet have still refused to honour their clear manifesto promise of a public vote. In the vote, the bulk of the Conservatives were supported by A breakdown of how those referendum rebels we had identified actually behaved during the vote is as follows: - of the 29 Labour MPs we had recorded as supporting a referendum, three did not vote and three voted against a referendum. One who voted against actually supported a referendum amendment at the Second Reading of the treaty Bill, and voted against its Second Reading, so his switch is inexplicable. The remaining two who voted against a referendum have evidently been writing misleading letters to their constituents stating that they would support a public vote. Six additional Labour MPs voted in support of a referendum. - of the 10 Lib Dem MPs we had recorded as supporting a referendum, one abstained and one did not vote. An additional seven voted in support of a treaty referendum, totalling fifteen rebels against Nick Clegg's policy. The Democracy Movement has responded to the vote by announcing the launch of an 'Integrity Fund' to finance local campaigning in marginal constituencies between now and the next general election, which could now be just over a year away. The fund will target MPs of all parties who have voted against the referendum they promised at the last election, and will finance the distribution of thousands of leaflets, advertising and other campaign activities in each target constituency. Funds have already been pledged to cover more than a dozen constituencies. Democracy Movement director Stuart Coster said: "Those MPs who hoped this issue would go away once they had voted contrary to their election promises have made a huge miscalculation. "On the basis of how MPs have voted on a Treaty referendum relative to their election promises, between now and the next general election we intend to ensure local voters know who they can and cannot trust." After the remaining stages in the Commons, the Bill ratifying the Lisbon Treaty will move to the House of Lords where there will be further debates about a referendum. If the Lords pass a referendum amendment, the issue could be put to the vote once again in the Commons. The matter of this treaty and broken promises of a referendum is very far from over. The Democracy Movement, together with allies in the I Want a Referendum campaign and Trade Unionists Against the EU Constitution, on 27 February organised a mass lobby of the House of Commons for a referendum on the re-named EU Constitution Treaty. The event received a great deal of attention Additionally, BBC political editor Nick Robinson travelled to the lobby on a coach from Harlow and the piece was shown on the evening's BBC 10 O'Clock News. The referendum issue also became a topic at Prime Minister's Questions, as the lobby continued outside. MPs are set to vote next Wednesday 5 March on a referendum amendment to the Bill ratifying the EU Constitution Treaty. The lobby represents the climax of the referendum campaign the DM has been waging at the local level in 150 constituencies across the country. Click here to read more and for more photos of the event. MPs vote to cut time for EU treaty debate in half Shortly after signing the treaty reviving the EU Constitution in Lisbon, Gordon Brown said that he wanted the document scrutinised in the "fullest possible parliamentary debate". Over 130 MPs at risk from EU referendum backlash Pressure mounted on Gordon Brown as he signs the re-named EU Constitution treaty today, as a new website revealed that over 130 MPs - more than 100 of whom are Labour - risk losing their seats from a public backlash if they don't honour their manifesto promises to hold a referendum. The site has been launched as part of a new national campaign to expose MPs' views on an EU treaty referendum to their local voters and to pressure them to honour their election promises of a public vote. Commons committee: 'Reform treaty' is really The House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee, which has a Labour majority and chairman, has published its analysis of the EU's so-called Reform Treaty. The report has concluded that the treaty is 'substantially equivalent' to the Constitution that was supposedly laid to rest by overwhelming 'No' votes in France and Holland in 2005. Click here to read more ... EU Constitution revived: give us the promised referendum Since 2001, the European Union has been working on a new addition to its fast-growing collection of trappings of statehood - creating its own Constitution. In 2005, the finalised EU Constitution was overwhelmingly rejected by the French and Dutch peoples in referendums. But Europe's political elite did not listen to those clear democratic expressions of opinion. Since then, some proposals the Constitution contained have been implemented regardless, by mis-using 'flexibility' articles in the existing EU Treaty (eg. Article 308). The bigger changes are now in the process of being wrapped up in a re-named treaty, which the government once again hopes to pass off as insignificant. It is an obvious cheat, designed to avoid holding the referendum that they promised in their last election manifesto. Join in with our campaign to ensure the government sticks to their clear manifesto pledge to let the people decide. Stop the Cheques In December 2005, Tony Blair went to a European Union summit in Brussels and agreed to a big increase in Britain's payments to the EU budget - from the current level of £3.5 billion a year, to over This is an astonishing £115 million every week, even taking into account the money we receive back from the EU in grants and subsidies. Blair agreed to this increase despite regular reports of EU fraud, despite failing to reform the EU's wasteful Common Agricultural Policy and despite the inability of auditors to approve the "majority" of the EU's spending for 12 years running. All MPs will get to vote on his bad EU deal. So the Democracy Movement has launched a new campaign against this shocking waste of so much money. Vision Europe - moving beyond the outdated EU The seismic rejection of the EU Constitution by the French and Dutch peoples in their recent referendums has shown clearly that the EU's 'one-size-fits-all' model - whereby laws are made in Brussels and then imposed on 25 diverse countries regardless of what their voters want - is no longer viable. The diversity of the reasons for opposing the Constitution in these two countries and beyond has shown that different European peoples demand very different priorities from those who govern them. Crucially, the idea that more and more law-making powers should be concentrated in the hands of EU officials who cannot be democratically removed from office was firmly rebuffed. Today's crisis presents Europeans with an opportunity to build a more realistic, bottom-up way of interacting that enables 
7 October: Luton 'Yes' campaign challenged over PO closures
4 October: Mandelson's return to the Cabinet
16 September: EU heading for 14th successive audit failure
The Luton EU Referendum 2008
10 October 2008
Sir Trevor McDonald, is staging an
EU referendum in Luton. The programme about the referendum will now be broadcast on Monday 20th October, and not the 13th as previously mentioned. 
Three thousand Luton residents have been given the chance to vote 'Yes' or 'No' to the Lisbon Treaty, and whether to stay in or come out of the EU.
The Democracy Movement is leading the 'No' side and supporting DM activists on the campaign trail have been the Labour MP for Luton North, Kelvin Hopkins, together with Thomas Rupp and Gayle Kinkead from the European Referendum Campaign.
'Pop svengali' music producer and Pop Idol judge Pete Watermanhas also pledged his support for a 'No' vote, as has Bob Crow - RMT union leader and chair of Trade Unionists Against the EU Constitution.
The EU loses so much public money in fraud and mismanagement that its auditors have refused to approve the "majority" of its spending for what looks set to be 14 years in a row. Despite this, the government recently agreed to increase the amount we hand the EU by more than 60%.
Only a 'No' vote will send the strong message that the scandal of this huge waste of public money has to stop.Support greater investment in local public services, not waste on the EU. Click here to read more about the recent EU budget deal.
The treaty will mean ...
... more interference by the EU in how we manage big issues like our energy supplies, National Health Service, criminal justice, sport, transport and much more. EU interference typically places heavy burdens on job-creating businesses and often has disastrous side-effects. This has been seen over EU laws on postal services and chemicals, action on high mobile phone charges for holiday-makers causing call charge hikes for pay-as-you-go users, and in how the EU-managed Common Fisheries Policy has decimated Europe's fishing resources and is causing an environmental disaster.
... a significant loss of influence over new EU laws due to increased majority voting in the Council of Ministers and a 30% cut in our ability to block EU laws we disagree with;
... the EU becoming more like a country in its own rightwith the creation of a full-time 'President of Europe' and foreign minister;
... more powers for the EU's embryonic police force Europol, including to 'implement' operational action. Europol will retain its immunity from criminal prosecution.
Yet the Lisbon Treaty will do nothing to reform the EU's failing environmental policies, won't solve widespread waste and corruption and doesn't make the EU more democratic.
Vote 'No' to say you want a better deal. Click here to read more about the Lisbon Treaty and its "substantially equivalent" predecessor - the EU Constitution.
Countries that have decided not to join the EU like Norway, Switzerland and Iceland successfully trade and co-operate with those countries that are EU members. More importantly, they can look beyond the EU to greater opportunities worldwide. Britain needs to co-operate with countries right around the world to solve common problems to do with the environment, the economy and the fight against crime. To do this successfully, we must first prevent ever more decision-making being centralised in Brussels.
Click here to read more about our Vision Europe.
MPs reject a referendum on the
re-named EU Constitution Treaty
5 March 2008: updated 6 March 2008
re-named EU Constitution Treaty, despite having promised one at the last election.
29 Labour MPs, 15 Liberal Democrats, the Scottish and Welsh nationalist parties and some independents. But this was not enough to overcome the Government's majority.
Thousands of voters came to Westminster to see their MP to lobby them to support the referendum on the EU Constitution that they promised at the last general election.
from the media and was featured, among other places, onChannel 4 News, Sky News, BBC News 24 and on BBC Radio 5 Live.
This has involved distributing leaflets personalised against anti-referendum MPs (pictured left), informing voters of their MP's intention to renege on their manifesto promise and encouraging protest.
28 January 2008
However, at a vote in Parliament yesterday evening, a majority of MPs have approved a government plan to cut the originally suggested 20-25 days for treaty debate in half, down to just 12 days.
13 December 2007
EU Constitution - DM comment
9 October 2007
Launched 24 August 2007: last updated 13 December 2007
Launched 16th February 2006: last updated 11 December 2007
£6 billion a year.
Launched 11th July 2005: last updated 25th March 2007
co-operation but which also respects Europe's diversity. If the EU cannot reform, then it must be replaced. Vision Europe puts forward a constructive alternative.
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
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