Allister renews call for Referendum
21 January 2008
On the day Parliament begins the ratification process of the repackaged EU Constitution, Traditional Unionist MEP Jim Allister has renewed the call for a referendum of the British people.
Statement by Jim Allister, Traditional Unionist MEP:-
“There is nothing more important in a democracy than the right to control the processes by which we are governed. We are facing radical and irreversible change in our relationship with the EU, which will diminish further national power and subject us to even more unaccountable control from Brussels. Yet, appallingly, the British people are not even to be asked for their consent. Yes, we were promised a referendum by the Government on the EU Constitution, yes, the Constitution lives on in this renamed “Reform Treaty”, but, fearful of their own people the Government has shamefully welched on its pledge.
Without a backward glance to what the people want or think, the government is determined to whip the ratification through. They must be opposed and exposed at every turn. I trust Northern Ireland MPs will make the commitment to harry and obstruct them at every turn.
The 2005 referenda in France and Holland showed Europe out of touch, but the lesson learnt was not to abandon what the people don't want, but to circumvent their opposition by determining this time not to ask them. Hence, as an agreed conspiracy between EU leaders, the scandal that across this continent national powers will be stripped away, superstatehood structures will be established, a new EU citizenship will be created, legal personality will be bestowed on the EU, and only a handful of citizens in the Republic of Ireland will ever be asked. Why? Because in most states, the UK included, the leaders fear the verdict of the people, adding cowardice to arrogance.
So on a day when these is much talk of human rights, I say give the peoples of Europe the basic political and human right, the right to say yes or no to how they should be governed. The right to say yes or no to this Constitution in referendum."
