This, from The Sun, is robust and exposes the fact that nobody anywhere has a better policy for making any progress at all .
A couple of dissident Tories, elected as MEPs on the policy of “If the Lisbon Treaty is not yet in force” there would be a referendum, lose all sense of honour and go against the policy that got them elected. THEY are the ones not to be trusted .
Elsewhere the Times approves and the Telegraph is largely supportive especially Benedict Brogan who points to Cameron as an example of honesty. As you might expect the Guardian and the Independent as europhile papers are against him while the Mail has one of its 'hissy-fits' and is opposed.
Christina
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THE SUN 5.11.09
Dear Sun readers
By DAVID CAMERON. Tory Leader
TWO years ago I made you a promise. In the pages of this paper I pledged that if I became PM a Conservative government would hold a referendum on the EU Treaty before it was ratified.
It was a guarantee that on my watch the British people would have their say on our future in Europe. But this week that treaty was signed and will soon become law.
No one likes to admit defeat, but you know - as I know - that sadly our battle to stop this EU Treaty has come to an end. On December 1 that treaty will be set in legal cement. A referendum cannot change that now. On that day Brussels will suck important powers away from Britain.
We'll lose a load of national vetoes, the EU will have new powers over our criminal justice system, asylum and immigration, and there'll be a new EU President.
The finger of blame for this points directly at one man: Gordon Brown. It was his party that promised a referendum in the 2005 election and his party that broke that promise.
With a smile on his face, he signed away powers from Britain to Brussels without asking any of you. One swipe of his pen was a slap in the face of 60million Brits - and democracy itself. And of course Labour's legacy goes far beyond the surrender to Europe.
They've left a catalogue of catastrophes that need urgent attention. The biggest debt in our peacetime history. A political system distrusted. A society blighted by crime and poverty. On top of that, we're fighting a war in Afghanistan.
The to-do list for the next government is long and daunting. That is why I know that if we win that election, we cannot afford to waste time having a row with Europe.
But that does not mean we are going to meekly surrender to some new European order. If the Conservatives are elected, Brussels will find a new kind of British government - one with a backbone, one willing to stand up for our interests and independence.
After Brown's betrayal, you deserve to know exactly where we stand on Europe. If we win that election, we'll start by making sure what happened with the EU Treaty can never happen again.
A Conservative government will make it the law that future governments will have to ask the British people before any more powers are handed over to Brussels. A referendum lock to which only you - the voters - have the key. That will cover any future attempt to take us into the Euro too.
Next we'll fight for three specific guarantees over powers that we believe should belong to Britain, not the EU.
First, bringing back powers over social and employment laws. While businesses struggle through this recession, it is outrageous that rules from Brussels add to their burden. And we can't afford the NHS to be mucked about by EU working time rules either.
Second, we want a guarantee that the Charter of Fundamental Rights will not be used by EU judges to add to EU law affecting the UK. Third, we want to pull back powers so that EU judges can't gain creeping control over the British criminal justice system.
And finally, we will enshrine Britain's independence in law by taking a Sovereignty Bill through Parliament. This would guarantee that the final word on our laws is here in the UK.
I never got the chance to give Britain the referendum we all desperately wanted. But here is my promise to you today:
If the Conservatives are in government, this country will never be a bit-part player in some European superstate. Britain must remain a sovereign and independent nation, free to act not in the interests of the Euro bureaucrats, but in the interests of our people.
David Cameron
==
Cameron’s crusade for UK rights
A TORY government will throw a ring of steel around Parliament to stop the EU from grabbing any more powers, David Cameron declared last night.
"Never again" will power be handed over to Brussels without the British people's say so, the Tory leader pledged.
If elected, he will pass a series of new laws to ensure Westminster remains sovereign forever. And he launched a new crusade to win back the right for the UK to make crucial decisions on union power, employment rules and criminal law.
As The Sun reported yesterday, it becomes a grim reality on December 1 after the Czech Republic became the last EU country to sign it.
The bombshell forced Mr Cameron to redraw his party's Euro policy - and write another landmark letter just to Sun readers.
Two years ago - - - he promised a referendum on the unratified Lisbon Treaty.
In the SECOND, above, he explains why such a vote has been made pointless.
And he gives you a new pledge - that for as long as he is in government, Britain will remain independent.
He said there would be a Sovereignty Bill, just as Germany has, to enshrine UK supremacy in decision making.
And Brussels would be stopped from forcing new treaties on us by stealth. Mr Cameron explained: "I did not promise a referendum come what may because once the Lisbon Treaty is the law, there's nothing anyone can do about it. And I'm not going to treat people like fools and offer a referendum that has no effect.
"What I am promising today is do-able, credible, deliverable - giving the British people a policy on Europe they can actually believe in."
He insisted: "Never again should it be possible for a British government to transfer power to the EU without the say of the British people."
Mr Cameron, shadow foreign secretary William Hague and the rest of the shadow cabinet - who have agreed the new policy - hope the plans will be enough to stave off an internal revolt by Eurosceptics.
They are being led by heavyweight David Davis, once Mr Cameron's rival for the Tory top job. In a direct challenge yesterday he demanded a referendum no matter what.
Mr Cameron said: "I know some people will want me to go further, and faster. To them let me say this.
"If we win the election, we will inherit the worst public finances of any incoming government for 50 years.
We will have a generational challenge to get Britain to live within her means, to secure economic recovery and to deliver this country from the appalling mess left by this Labour government.
"That has to come before anything else." He insisted the Tories would not rush into a "massive Euro bust-up".
Instead, his team would persuade fellow EU leaders "respectfully and patiently" to repatriate powers they want back - even if that took five years.Labour jumped on Mr Cameron's change of tack.
Ex-minister David Blunkett jibed that Mr Cameron's 2007 "cast-iron guarantee" of a referendum "turned out to be made of cardboard". [While it he as a labour MP who voted to ratify the treaty without the referendum his party had promised -cs]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
FRANCE last night accused the Tories of "castrating" Britain's position in Europe. In a wild rant, Europe minister Pierre Lellouche also said Mr Cameron's approach was "autistic", "pathetic" and would see us "disappear off the radar". [sent out in a full account last night as “French politician makes rabid attack on Tories’ -cs]
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