John Penrose

Conservative Party | Weston-super-Mare

South West MPs Go To Downing Street Demanding a Referendum on EU Treaty

Weston-super-Mare MP John Penrose was joined by his South West Conservative Parliamentary colleagues David-Heathcoat-Amory, MP for Wells, and Ian Liddell Grainger, MP for Bridgwater, today when he presented a petition to number 10 Downing Street demanding a referendum on the EU Treaty.

The petition, which was put together by Weston-super-Mare Senior Citizen’s Forum, consists of over 1,000 signatures calling upon the Government to live up to their election manifesto commitment to hold a referendum on the EU Constitution. While the majority of signatures are from Weston-super-Mare, strong feelings on the topic mean that many people from other parts of the South West have added their names.

The Petition comes just one day after The European Union (Amendment) Bill had its second reading in the House of Commons and after frantic voting, got through by 362 votes to 224. The Bill is now set to go to Committee on Tuesday 29th January.

Speaking after the handover Mr Penrose said:

“Despite what the Government has said, the ‘new’ treaty is almost exactly the same as the rejected constitution. When the Prime Minister signed the treaty he handed over even more powers from Britain to Brussels, and made major changes to the way the EU works.

"At the moment, if people don't like the way Britain is run, they can throw the Government out in an election. But the eurocrats in Brussels aren't elected, so if we give them more power to decide how Britain is run we can't get rid of them if we don't like what they're doing.

"The Government made a clear promise to hold a referendum on the EU Constitution. We think they should live up to their promise and let the British people be heard.

”What are they scared of? In a democracy, the people should be in charge. The only reason for refusing to hold a referendum is because they're frightened they'll lose."

Mr Lacey, Chairman of Weston-super-Mare Senior Citizens Forum, said:

“In his opening speech as Prime Minister, Gordon Brown said that he wanted to put trust back in to politics. He should start by trusting the British public.”