Monday, 24 October 2011
NEWS RELEASE
24 October 2011: Release time immediate
111 MPs vote for British people to have a say on EU
The cross-party Campaign for an Independent Britain (CIB) – which brings together Eurosceptic campaigners from across the political spectrum – has applauded the 111 MPs on both sides of the House of Commons who tonight voted in favour of holding a national referendum on Britain's menbership of the European Union.
CIB spokesman Andy Smith said: "We salute all those Conservative and Labour MPs who put country before party, and before any personal ambition, to defy their whips in tonight's vote. Although the motion was defeated by a margin of four to one, the size of the rebellion by backbench Conservative MPs against the official party line is a clear demonstration of the strength of feeling in support of a referendum, and a reflection of British public opinion, which is overwhelmingly Eurosceptic.
"Particular credit should go to the two Conservative MPs who were, until tonight, Parliamentary Private Secretaries to Government Ministers, but who decided to vote with their conscience and to sacrifice their jobs in Government and return to the backbenches.
"We may have lost tonight's vote in the Commons, but that is entirely because of the three-party tyranny that holds sway in our Parliament - and that tyranny is weaker tonight as a result. The bosses of the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties have made a massive error by trying to fix the result of the House of Commons vote through the use of a 3-line whip, and the British people will have looked on this with horror.
"Our message to the leaders of the three main parties tonight is that a referendum is most definitely NOT off the political agenda just because they have won tonight's vote. Whether Messrs Cameron, Clegg and Miliband like it or not, the debate that took place in the House of Commons today saw the first shots fired in the campaign that will lead to the inevitable referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union. The 'gang of three' cannot hold back the tide forever."
CIB has been the main cross-party Eurosceptic organisation since the 1970s and has consistently argued against British membership of the EU. Prominent supporters include Tory MPs Mark Reckless and Philip Hollobone, and Labour MP Austin Mitchell, all three of whom made powerful and passionate speeches in the House of Commons today, as well as Independent Labour peer Lord Stoddart, UKIP peer Lord Pearson, former Labour MP Nigel Spearing and former Tory MPs Sir Richard Body and Sir Teddy Taylor.
-ENDS
Press contact: Andy Smith, Press Officer, Campaign for an Independent Britain, tel: 07737 271676.
www.eurosceptic.org.uk
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