Referendum unites

Sep 12 2007 by Rob Merrick, Liverpool Daily Post

GORDON BROWN will get a bloody nose from his old trade unions friends today, if – as expected – they back calls for a referendum on the EU treaty.

Arm-twisting has failed to persuade the GMB and rail workers' unions to drop plans for a vote on giving the public, rather than MPs, the final say on ratifying the draft agreement.

If union lefties join the Euro-sceptic right in demanding a referendum, the pressure on the Prime Minister to give way may prove too great.

Mr Brown may decide he cannot win a general election next year with the unspoken slogan “Vote Labour – and get the treaty you violently dislike”.

But union opposition – for reasons diametrically opposed to those that fire the Euro sceptics – surely only proves the absurdity of staging a referendum on such a complex document?

Consider the normal justification for a referendum – that the treaty is another stage in the long march to a “superstate” that is transferring power from Westminster to Brussels, for ever.

The Council of Ministers will get a full-time president – instead of power rotating between member states – and there will be an EU “Foreign Minister”, although he won't be called that.

Britain's national veto will go in no fewer than 61 areas, although our voting strength will be greater in the most important of them.

Much right-wing anger zooms in on the Charter of Fundamental Rights, with scorn poured on the Government's claim of an opt-out from a stronger right to strike.

But, hang on. Consider why the unions are unhappy with the treaty – because workers in this country will be deprived of those new rights promised for the other 26 countries.

So people would be asked to vote “No” because the treaty is both too strong and too weak. Doesn't that make it a compromise, something all politicians have to deal in – especially in Europe? Furthermore, the treaty is 63,000 words long and, bafflingly, lists amendments to existing treaties without the original texts. Nobody is going to read it, or understand it if they try.

Surely, we elect governments to make these decisions on our behalf – and vote them out at the next election if we don't like those decisions?

Labour supports the treaty, the Conservatives oppose it, so voters can have their say – and there may well be an election within 12 months in which to say it.

Referenda should be left for the truly momentous decisions, such as joining the euro, or quitting the EU altogether.

That, of course, is the true aim of most so-called Eurosceptics – but they are too cowardly to say it.