Inevitability Mr Anderson

So, the Irish people have had the good sense to vote against the Lisbon Treaty. Hurrah! Or at least it would be if their say actually mattered - which quite clearly it won’t.

Even before the final result was announced, numerous European politicians including José Manuel Barroso had made plain that the Lisbon Treaty was not dead and that ratification in all member states must continue.

Thus the Irish will discover in time that within the European Union there is no such thing as real choice. Either you subjugate yourself to the will of the Brussels bureaucracy or leave – and since all political parties in Ireland are in favour of remaining within the Union, in much the same way they were all in favour of the EU Constitution, then it is almost guaranteed that the Lisbon Treaty will be forced upon the Irish people eventually.

Some people still talk of creating a looser European Union of independent trading nations. They fail to realise that if the EU and its politicians are prepared to ignore the will of the French, Dutch and Irish voters in very specific referendums, then it is entirely unlikely they will suddenly feel the need to allow members to simply trade freely without any political baggage.

The EU is irreversibly set on the course of ever closer political union. Its elites will not listen to the people, whom they secretly despite for democratically voicing their doubts, and will plough on regardless – even in the face of popular adversity. How does anyone continue to believe that is democratic or favourable?

A Matter Of Principle

The announcement by David Davis that he intends to resign as an MP over the issue of forty two days detention is indeed a shocking one.

Most MPs that chose to resign have usually been grudgingly forced to do so after being shamefully exposed by the media with their hand caught in the till or up a woman’s skirt – or something even worse.

Indeed, so rare an event is it when an MP does anything on principle, especially taking the decision to resign over their beliefs in order to highlight the issue further, that the media establishment doesn’t quite know what to say or do with itself.

Regardless of media reaction, I expect that many people, both in Haltemprice and Howden and throughout Britain, may well be rather impressed by Mr Davis’ decision. Bearing that in mind along with the fact that it appears that the Lib Dems and potentially Labour will not be fielding candidates against him, he should therefore be comfortably re-elected.

Yet unfortunately, as always, there is a downside to this latest development. Once again media focus will regrettably be drawn away from the Lisbon Treaty and any referendum demands currently being made, and quite possibly the result of the vote in the Irish Referendum tomorrow. Not that it would have made much difference of course, but still disappointing nonetheless.

The Great Deception

Today in the Daily Telegraph, Bruno Waterfield confirms that the EU and the Irish Government have indeed been working on plans to implement the Lisbon Treaty even if the Irish people vote against the document in their referendum.

Since the Irish Government is not required to hold a referendum on an enlargement treaty, the remaining Lisbon protocols could easily be slipped past the Irish electorate when Croatia joins the European Union in 2009 or 2010.

This really is as much as to be expected. When faced with the thorny issue of ‘Europe’ even the usual pretence of democracy disappears out the window as national governments and ministers fall over one another to please their European masters and deny their own electorates a say on their future.

Equally unsurprisingly were yesterday’s events and the way in which this country’s political class and media had everyone looking the other way again when it could have mattered.

Last night in the House of Lords a coalition of Labour and Liberal Democrat Lords defeated a Conservative bid to force a Referendum by 280 to 218 votes, but most people were too busy focusing on the House of Commons vote on the Government’s amendments to its forty two day detention policy.

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A Wilted Clover

Whatever the result of the Irish Referendum on the Lisbon Treaty tomorrow, its final statistical outcome will matter very little.

While supporters of both the YES and NO camps would celebrate a victory for their respective side, the final reckoning is predestined – the Lisbon Treaty will become law in the twenty seven EU member states and there is nothing we or the Irish people can do to prevent it.

As we all well know, if the result tomorrow in Ireland is not the one that the European Union and its supporters want then they will simply ask the Irish people again, and again and again until they do receive the desired response. However, this is of course assuming that the EU would willingly tolerate the formality of another public referendum, which it may not.

A more likely scenario would seem to be that Irish and EU leaders will simply collude behind the backs of the Irish electorate at the next European Council and ratify the Lisbon Treaty (most of which has already been stealthily implemented) despite a NO vote.

This may well involve the Irish Government claiming that a few token concessions from the EU that will be offered up during ‘negotiation’ this time around (naturally only to be done away with in the next EU Treaty the Irish will sign) is enough to make another democratic consultation of the people unnecessary.

Either that, or all EU member states will agree to continue with the process of ratification without Ireland who would be allowed to join at a later stage if they so wish – which of course they will.

Therefore, the result of the Irish decision tomorrow is entirely irrelevant to the European Union. Its continuous drive towards ever closer union will rumble on undeterred and more and more of our powers, rights and freedoms will be willingly signed over to unelected Commissioners and Bureaucrats in Brussels by our own selfish, pampered and increasingly irrelevant representatives in Parliaments across the European continent.

Within a week our House of Lords will vote on whether there should be a Referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in Britain. It is highly likely that the Lords and thus Parliament will agree with the Government and decide that there is no need for the people to be consulted. In so doing they will consign to the past this country’s long and celebrated history of being an independent, democratic and free nation. How did it come to this?