Sir Roger Gale
Member of Parliament for Herne Bay and Sandwich (including West Thanet)
EU Referendum
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October 9th 2007
The Need for an EU Referendum -
Commons European Scrutiny committee Damns "Constitutional Treaty"
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The House of Commons European Scrutiny committee report on the proposed draft "reform Treaty" published this week is "a damning indictment of the treaty and of the manner in which it has been handled by Government" says North Thanet`s MP, Roger Gale.
The MP, who has spent much of the summer campaigning for a national referendum on the issue, said at the Commons this (Tuesday) morning:
"The Committee has accused the authorities of `misleading`, which is parliamentary language for "telling lies"!
And in a particularly strong paragraph the report speaks of:
"An essentially secret drafting process conducted by the (EU) Presidency, with texts produced at the last moment before pressing for an agreement. The compressed timetable now proposed, having regard to the sitting terms of national parliaments, could not have been better designed to marginalise their role".
In other words, the EU Presidency and Ministers have tried to railroad through what is the original European constitution, with the European flag removed, in all but name.
Having struggled through the original draft in French - all that was available until the end of July - we at last have a comprehensive assessment of the similarities between the rejected (in French and Dutch referenda) original and the "doctored" proposals. The phrase "In substance the same as the Constitutional Treaty" occurs over and over again and although some items have been "inserted as amended" virtually nothing has been deleted from the original.
I believe that Brown has sought to deceive the British public with "assurances" that his "red lines" have been adhered to and "his objects achieved" and that we must, in the interests of the future of our Country, be allowed to vote on this issue.
We had hoped that an Autumn general election might have afforded the opportunity - a fact clearly considered by Brown when he ran away from the electorate - but we now need a referendum to allow the citizens of Britain to have their say.
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