In an piece today, Jon Cruddas ( Labours policy review) has hinted that the Labour party under Ed Miliband will offer the voters a referendum on our membership of the EU , this is from the post :
"He wants to plug the public into the debate on Europe by offering an "in/out" referendum once the shape of the new Europeon union in known"
While i and many people will welcome this i seem to remember Ed Miliband ruling it out, Has Jon managed to change Eds mind?
The thing is, if any of the main parties offer us a referendum (and they convice us that they will keep the promise) it would give them a boost in the polls and help restore trust in politics.
So i do welcome this policy from the Labour party and i hope that Ed Miliband will come on and tell us that he does back a referendum.
But what will happen if we vote the wrong way? ;)
No one will offer a referendum unless they are confident that we will vote the way they prefer. An in/out referendum offered by a party that wants us to stay in and which has just (by definition) won a majority in Parliament on the basis of its pledges for what it will do while in the EU is unlikely to get met with a vote for exit which would involve the electorate immediately rejecting the manifesto it just gave a parliamentary majority to. It would only be if EU membership was the number one issue for voters (it's unlikely to be the number one practical issue of concern even for UKIP supporters) that an upset would be on the cards. In every other scenario the "in" campaign from the government would focus on delivering their existing programme of government and showing how exit would prevent it being done.
ReplyDeleteIf you want a referendum because you'd like the UK to leave the EU, don't support any party offering a referendum without stating that it agrees that we should vote for exit. Otherwise you'll end up feeling like the LibDems after the AV referendum - knowing that there won't be another chance for a very long time and that exit will have been "proven" to be not what the people want.
Key words: "once the shape of the new Europeon union is known"
ReplyDelete= Never.
Until a party says "we will offer an in/out referendum on (x) date if we are elected, don't believe a word of it.
And even then, be suspicious.