Image via Wikipedia One of the oddities of the last general Election is that the two major parties, and the Lib Dems, had as a manifesto commitment to hold a referendum on Lisbon Treaty.Once that treaty became law it was of course right that those manifesto commitments were dropped. However, the Lib Dems and Labour decided to drop their commitment somewhat earlier which is a disgrace. What was very odd about the Lib Dems is that they then decided that they would rather hold a referendum on being in/out of Europe and some might remember the rather rather petulant behaviour of their Foreign Affairs spokesman who stormed out of the commons stamping his foot. There has been a great deal of confusion about this Lib Dem position because of course the Lib Dems are not just pro-European but they would rather we just surrendered to the EU project entirely; they want us to have the Euro, give our defence and foreign policy to Europe and probably surrender our tax policies as well. Whatever else they cannot be trusted with the EU. If you wanted proof then it arrived yesterday. Yesterday the Conservative party moved an amendment to the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill that would put in place a referendum lock that would ensure no further powers are transferred to the EU without a referendum. The amendment was voted down by Labour and the Lib Dems. The Lib Dems voted against it. Jonathan Isaby on Conservativehome says this: The Lib Dem opposition to the amendment marks another high point in hypocrisy for them and, in particular, their leader. At the Liberal Democrat Conference in 2005, one Nick Clegg proposed a motion stating that “Any proposals which involve significant change in the relationship between the Union, the member states and its citizens should be approved in Britain through a referendum”. I speak to many former Lib Dem supporters who state quite clearly that one of the things they object most to about the Lib Dems is their policy on Europe and now they can add the duplicity as well. Incidentally, the Lib Dems have lost two Parliamentary candidate in the past two days for sending racist and sexist emails to constituents – the Lib Dems are clearly not all that you see.Lib Dems betray voters on Europe – again
Wednesday 20 January 2010
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