| Last chance to stop the EU Constitution |
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| Written by Blog Administrator | |
| Wednesday, 16 April 2008 | |
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Our friend Stuart Wheeler sends us the following message, which may be of interest to readers of this blog: My Legal Case to Force a Referendum on the Lisbon Treaty
Fortunately there is a legal, as well as a moral, basis for demanding a referendum and I have instituted proceedings against the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary, in which I seek a judicial review and a declaration that the refusal to hold a referendum is unlawful. The case goes to the High Court on 22 April for a crucial preliminary hearing in open court. The Liberal Democrats, who were instructed by their leader to abstain in the House of Commons on the question of a referendum, are to be instructed in the House of Lords to vote with the Government against a referendum. This will make it very hard, though not impossible, for an amendment in favour of a referendum to be carried. The only other chance of a referendum in the UK is in my case. It will not be easy to win it but, if I do, and if the referendum is then won by those who oppose ratification, we may well have saved for our country its right to govern itself. We shall also have changed the course of European history because the Treaty cannot come into force unless every one of the 27 members of the European Union ratifies it. I have a website about the case - www.stuartwheeler.co.uk - and it will be updated as necessary.
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Comments (4)
What about Ireland?
written by Oli, April 16, 2008
As I understood it, the EU have decided that they would ignore countries which didn't ratify the treaty. The point being that Ireland looks like it isn't going to play ball and will be voting against it - although I did read it on a blog and you can't trust everything you read on the internet!
...
written by APL, April 16, 2008
The point about campaigns for referenda is that we live in a system of representative democracy: this is not a normative statement, rather an expression of the constitutional set-up as it stands. My problem with the arguments for referenda is that they are only invariably called for on a topic that can be won by opponents of that issue(i.e. a narrow question such as Lisbon). Direct Democracy as a political ideal is one that I do not support: as liberals we must temper the excesses of pure majoritarianism with institutions such as parliaments...
You can vote online!
written by W. Humbold, April 17, 2008
Free Europe Constitution is better than the Treaty:
1. You can read it 2. You can vote about it Vote YES or NO at www.FreeEurope.info
What about.... written by Brian, April 17, 2008
I'm just a silly American, so maybe my facts aren't straight here, but doesn't the Queen need to assent to the treaty for it to pass.
I know that such assent is, as a matter of procedure, usually just a formality. However, if the people seemed to ask overwhelmingly to support her withholding of such assent (until a referendum was held, of course), couldn't she still do so? wouldn't she? No harm in asking. Write comment
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