A Conspiracy Against The Public

It seemed like more than just mere coincidence that on the day chosen by I Want A Referendum to stage a mass lobby of MPs in Parliament, lunatic eco-fringe protestors decided to scale the Houses of Parliament.

As it now turns out, it was probably not a coincidence at all. It’s suspected that the eco-protesters were given access to Parliament by either an MP or researcher - an act that was no doubt purposefully staged to divert media attention away from our Referendum Rally taking place below.

This cunning ruse of course worked like a charm. The media (always desperate for scandal and sensation) rapidly made the rooftop protest their main news item. As I returned to Paddington station after the rally, billboards advertising the Evening Standard claimed to have exclusive photographs of the eco-protest. No mention of the far larger and more important EU Referendum rally.

Be that as it may, the Referendum Rally and Lobbying seemed to go well, though obviously the likelihood of us obtaining a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty looks increasingly slim. When I arrived in Westminster just after lunch the day’s events were already in full swing. While the eco-morons chained themselves to the Parliament roof railings, those participating in the Referendum Rally below and waiting to lobby their MP engaged in that most British of things: they formed a long and orderly queue.

Elsewhere at the Methodist Central Hall I listened to a number of speeches by various campaign group leaders including trade unionists, MEPs, and the Director of the I Want A Referendum. The best among these speeches were probably those by Roger Helmer MEP (who gained quite a few laughs from the audience) and the Sunday Telegraph Columnist, Christopher Booker.

However, as Dr Richard North commented on his EU Referendum blog yesterday:

When today’s day return tickets to London are tomorrow’s waste, the issues will still be there. When the Lisbon treaty is ratified, they will still be there. When the European Union brings out its next treaty – which indeed it will – the issues will still be there.

He is completely correct. We need to remember that this will be a long and protracted battle to regain the freedoms and liberties of the democracy our country once was. Today was only one such battle – there will be many others.

Hannan Gets The Boot

It appears that very soon two Conservative MEPs will reside outside the European People’s Party grouping in the European Parliament. The first being Roger Helmer in 2005 while the latest looks set to be Daniel Hannan.

Dan explains his imminent expulsion on his blog on the Telegraph website and how the EPP leadership have not taken kindly to his consistent calls in Parliamentary debates for a referendum to be held on the EU Constitution.

Mr Hannan’s latest remarks in the EU Parliament, in which he compared the voting of increased powers for Parliamentary President Hans Gert-Pöttering to Hitler’s Enabling Act in Germany of 1933, was the final straw for EPP Leader Joseph Daul who had by that point completely lost patience with Daniel’s admirable filibustering and democratic principles in calling for a referendum.

A decision on Mr Hannan’s membership of the EPP is to be made next week, but I think that we all know that somebody somewhere has already made that decision and therefore any public consultation will just be for show. So much for supposedly democratic practice in the European Union.

Under Dreaming Spires

Last night’s much publicised Oxford Union debate on the freedom of speech involving BNP leader Nick Griffin and historian David Irving was delayed after protesters broke into the debating theatre.

Perhaps this outcome was in the end not all too much of a surprise since there will always be individuals willing to prevent others engaging in democratic and free debate with whose views they do not agree?

Many Universities in Britain currently hold a ‘no-platform’ policy for groups such as the BNP and the likes of David Irving. Only last year the University of Bath’s Student Union voted to bar Nick Griffin from speaking at a private event hosted in one of its auditoriums. Therefore it actually came as a pleasant surprise to discover that the Oxford Union had actively voted to allow Mr Griffin to be challenged in an open debate.

Regardless of whether you agree with Nick Griffin or David Irving (and I for the most part do not) then it should be generally accepted that if their views are so wrong, then they should be challenged through debate and their arguments shown to be incoherent - not instead to try and force Mr Griffin and Irving into silence, which benefits no-one and in the end often has the undesirable effect of providing them with public sympathy.

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Unions Join Call For EU Referendum

Yesterday, the National Union of Rail Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) and Britain’s General Union (GMB) submitted formal motions demanding a referendum on the EU Constitution.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) also said that there would be a full debate on the EU Referendum issue at its annual conference in Brighton.

The question of Britain’s relationship with the European Union is, I believe, the greatest and most defining issue of our time. Not hospital waiting list times. Not the war in Iraq. And certainly not ‘climate change’.

The challenges that face Britain today can all eventually be traced back, in some shape or form, to the monolith institutions of the European Union and the binding legislation they create. These affect all aspects of British life including how much we spend on our hospitals, which criminals we can or can’t deport, control of our national borders and the core tenants of our criminal justice system. The EU now governs and presides over most aspects of how British people go about the business of their everyday lives.

The referendum announcements by the Unions are therefore, on the face of it, very good news. The more voices that collectively call for a referendum, the harder it will be for Gordon Brown and the Government to ignore us.

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