No To Eu Referendum

[John]

Hi All,

So last night MPs rejected calls for an EU Referendum. I'm actually quite relieved as I feel the vote would of been "NO". I don't agree with Referendums because once you have one, they will never end. See 1900s British politics for that. Secondly, many people have not even read the Lisbon Treaty and wouldn't even know what they are voting on. They would be ordered to vote NO by the anti European tabloid newspapers.

Some might say that you can't deny the people a referendum on Europe because it's such an important issue. There is a general election in a few years time and you can voice your displeasure there. Also, if anyone thinks any other Government would of done things differently, they are mistaken.

An example of why a referendum wouldn't work. A few days ago Gordon Brown announced plans to increase the National Minimum Wage. If we held a referendum on this, people would vote it at some stupidly high rate without understanding the consequences of the economy collapsing and inflating rocketing. Can you imagine what would happen if the national minimum wage was £10? Everyone on less than that would vote for it. That's just an example of where a voter can't always be sensible on individual issues.

[DPS Computing]

Very true and I agree.

Then again - I would prefer not to release all our domestic power to Brussels or give them even a little bit more influence than they already have.

I'm not anti-Europe - I think Europe is working very well at the moment but I don't want to see us become like the US where we are becoming a smaller and smaller part of a bigger organisation or "super-nation".

I'm pro European but also very much, and primarily, pro British!

[paul]

I heard the majority of people voted against the treaty are blue color workers those oppose globalization.Obviously this should be not the reason to vote against the treaty.

[John]

Hi,

Most working class people seem to think world affairs don't influence their daily lives. There is a deep seated xenophobia in the British people and any treaty always comes down to immigration. It's not too different from other working classes in other European countries.

[DPS Computing]

Originally Posted by John

Hi,

Most working class people seem to think world affairs don't influence their daily lives. There is a deep seated xenophobia in the British people and any treaty always comes down to immigration. It's not too different from other working classes in other European countries.

This is not the case with me, although immigration is a part of it as a whole. But what does someone in Brussels know about our unique crime and justice system - which is very different from any other European countries in very fundamental ways - would we all be happy if someone started tinkering with it to make it comply with the rest of Europe!

Also, foreign policy - I am a firm believer in deciding our own foreign policy! - just like most other soverign democratic nations are! There have been several foreign policy issues where the UK has strongly disagreed with some major players in Europe, including, but by no means limited to, France, Germany and Russia.

I could go on for quite a while with the rest of the treaty and its consequences domestically and am happy to continue in another post if required to show that immigration is only a very small part of this treaty.

And rather than this being in any way racist or xenophobic I believe its more political correctness gone mad!

It does seem that in this country if you are white, male, british and working class you are no longer allowed a stance or opinion on certain issues without being branded racist! I mean, for god sake, I do believe we are the only country in the civilised first world that actually considers it racism to fly our national flag for our national team during the World Cup!!!