LOCAL MP CALLS FOR EU TREATY REFERENDUM

Tony Baldry says no referendum is undermining confidence in Government

North Oxfordshire MP, Tony Baldry, has called for a referendum on the EU Reform Treaty.  Speaking during the Queen's Speech debates this week, where the Government introduced a Bill to ratify the treaty, Tony Baldry said the Treaty is so overwhelmingly similar to the Constitution a referendum must be held.

The Government promised a referendum on the Constitution during the last General Election - and since then the Prime Minister has said his job is the deliver on that Manifesto but has refused a referendum on the Treaty.

Government backbenchers are calling for a referendum; and the cross-party parliamentary European Scrutiny Committee published a report demonstrating that the Treaty is identical in all but name to the Constitution.

In a speech on  the House of Commons, Tony Baldry MP said:

"It has always been clear that a large chunk of the parliamentary Session will be devoted to the consideration of the European treaty. I approach the Lisbon treaty as a pro-European. I want Europe to work. It is in all our interests that the European Union runs smoothly, and it is in all our interests that it is fit for purpose to tackle global challenges such as climate change, terrorism and illegal immigration. But—and this is a substantial “but”—we were promised a referendum and there should be one. Everyone knows that the new treaty is a constitution in all but name. The EU Scrutiny Committee advised that only 2 of the 440 provisions in the treaty differ substantially from the original constitution. The Prime Minister is breaking a promise to put it to a vote, and I fear that people will see the fact that we are not going to have a referendum on the EU treaty as a further example of the Prime Minister’s evasiveness."