Friday, September 18, 2009
Off Message Labour Candidates: Part 94
Iain Dale 11:37 AM
“Top of the reasons for the euro [elections] disaster must surely be the Government’s failure to honour its Manifesto pledge to call a referendum on a New European Treaty. Such serious pledges once given must never be denied.”
Indeed so.Will the Irish Capitulate to Blackmail?
Iain Dale 9:05 AM
You might be forgiven for not knowing this, but in only two weeks' time -on 2 October - Ireland goes to the polls to vote for the second time on the Lisbon Treaty. Bearing in mind how much coverage it got the first time around this side of the Irish sea, you might well ask why it has received scant coverage this time. Could it be because certain people think if it doesn't get hyped up the Irish will vote the "right way"?
Looking in from the outside it seems to me that the mainstream parties are trying to use the terrible economic circumstances to pressurise the people into voting yes, on the basis that if they don't the inward investment which provides to many jobs will not be forthcoming. I'd like to think the Irish people will be intelligent enough to see through this, but all the polls still point to a victory for the Yes campaign. Despite this,Andrew Hawkins from ComRes has just twittered that he expects a 'no' vote. I hope he's right, but as they say north of the border, I have me doots.
Logic should dictate that the Irish would stick to their guns. Nothing has materially changed since they voted 'no' the first time apart from the fact that the levels of threat from EU leaders as to the consequences of another 'no' vote have increased. Do the Irish want to get a reputation for raising a white flag to blackmail? I do hope not.
Slugger O'Toole has twelve essays on the Lisbon campaign, from both perspectives.
Nabidana (a Tory living in Dublin) has some decent posts on the campaign.
Friday, 18 September 2009
I suspect Labour's candidate in Folkestone & Hyde, Donald Worsley, might be in trouble after his comments to the Romney Marsh Times.
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