Tuesday 19 January 2010

Where Is The Conservative 'Brain' In This Announcement?

I have been pointed to this example of Conservative 'policy' making.

"This afternoon in the House of Commons the Conservatives will introduce a new clause to the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill, to ensure that any future treaty that transfers powers from Parliament to the EU will be subject to a referendum."

Those of us who take an interest in 'matters EU' know only too well there is not going to be another treaty - Lisbon is 'self-amending'. To quote Goodnight Vienna on Calling England - Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot!

This proposal by the Conservatives is purely a PR exercise, designed so that they can look 'Eurosceptic' in the eyes of a public that haven't a clue about 'matters EU'.

This type of 'policy announcement' is no more than 'gerrymandering' and let alone a party being 'drummed out of office', any party proposing this should be 'drummed out of the opportunity of ever holding office'!

Mark Francois' comment: “Labour’s breaking of their election promise to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty was an outrageous breach of trust with voters. That must never be allowed to happen again. Decisions on any future Treaty that hands over areas of power from Britain to the EU should belong to the British people. “Today the Conservative Party will try to change Labour’s Constitutional Reform Bill so that the British people have a referendum lock on any such handover of power. If the Labour and Liberal Democrat Parties do not back our proposal then there can be only one conclusion: they want to be able to hand over more powers to the EU without the British people’s consent.” is open to a little 'fisking'.

And the Conservative Party's breaking of a 'cast-iron' pledge by their leader was not 'an ougtrageous breach of trust with voters'? 'That must never be allowed to happen again' is a statement that not one political party, assuming one of them does win power, could ever stop, on the basis that if the EU wishes to assume 'competence' - the right to make law - on any subject they can just do it. 'Decisions that hands over areas of power (never mind 'on any future treaty', you prat) from Britain should belong to the British people' - what about every area of power that has already been handed over? 'If the Labour and Liberal Democrat Parties do not back our proposal then there can be only one conclusion: they want to be able to hand over more powers to the EU without the British people's consent' - and the difference between Conservatives with their wish to remain in the EU under present conditions -  when compared to Labour and the Liberal Democrats, is..........................???

And Mark Francois could well become 'Europe Minister'?? Never mind Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot - how about Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot, Foxtrot, Foxtrot?

Mind you, an even scarier thought is that David Cameron could well become Prime Minister!

1 comment:

GoodnightVienna said...

It was the Con amendment that new legislation from the EU would have to be debated and passed in both Houses was lost by 45 votes thanks to Lab/LibDem. It seems there's also a clause in the CR&G Bill that 'in exceptional circumstances' EU laws can be waved through without scrutiny or debate. Happy days! There's even less chance of getting the amendment on any new EU legislation requiring a referendum.