EU referendum: Tory MPs to force vote next week

[dipsydoodle]

Conservative MPs are seeking to engineer a vote on an EU referendum by tabling an amendment to the Queen's speech next week, expressing regret that the government's legislative programme does not contain a bill introducing a referendum.

The move has the support of hardline Eurosceptics such as John Redwood, Peter Bone, Edward Leigh and David Davis.

It is normal practice for amendments to be tabled to the Queen's speech, but it is for the Speaker to decide whether to accept them. It is likely that the Speaker will accept this amendment, with a vote on Tuesday next week.

It is very unlikely the amendment will be passed, but a sizeable show of Eurosceptic strength would be taken as a sign that David Cameron is struggling to control the mood on his backbenches.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/may/09/eu-referendum-tory-mps-vote

[non sociopath skin]

1. What was that word John Major used to use ....?

The Skin

[T_i_B]

2. It's actually quite worrying how the debate about the EU is going

Nobody on the right wing dares challenge UKIP, even though it's clear that the advocates of EU withdrawal do not have the foggiest idea about international trade and how damaging EU withdrawal would be for UK businesses.

The result is that the Tory party is getting itself into a right old mess on this issue. They may get a nasty surprise when they discover that most voters are not EU obsessives.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. The Tory Europhobic wing seems to regard this as a religious happening

They look forward to the Promised Land of an exit from the EU, freeing them from the yoke of EgyptianBrussels slavery. This is foretold in the Book of Referendum, as revealed to John of Patmos Redwood:

And the first bill shall be unveiled, and lo, it was a public vote on affiliation with the antichrist, upon whose head are twelve stars, against a background of azure.

And I saw 4 politicians holding forth, and the first was Lawson, or 'Famine' - lo! his visage is like unto a skeleton, compared with his former self, and he urged an exit. The second was Portillio, or 'Pestilence', and those who saw him said "I thought we wiped him out years ago". He too intoned "I will vote 'no'". The third was Hammond, or 'War', though many scratched their heads and murmured "are you sure he's at Defence? I thought he was at Transport - oh, hang on, I'm, probably thinking of Richard on Top Gear. What's this Philip look like anyway?". He said much the same as the others, as far as anyone could remember. And the last was Gove, or 'Death'. For the education system, anyway. And he did nitpick on exactly how he would vote, and when, because he wanted to hang on to his job in the Cabinet of Hell, as well as staying in with the Lunatic Right, in case they got the upper hand. For he is a weasel, verily.

Any rumours that 'Mad John' has been suffering from hallucinations from ergot poisoning for a couple of decades are strongly denied by his press office.

[dipsydoodle]

4. Well composed

[fedsron2us]

5. The slight problem with just lampooning Eurosceptic nutters on the right

is that it does not explain why three ex Chancellor's Healey, Lawson and Lamont have also questioned Britain's position in the EU. The first two on that list are not inveterate Eurosceptics. In fact Lawson resigned because Thatcher refused to join the ERM.

In addition those want Britain to stay in the EU need to set out what is their attitude to closer European political and financial integration. If we stay in the European project do they want to join the Euro and are they prepared to accept what being part of the single currency might mean in terms of restricting the budgetary choices of any future British government ? Getting our spending and taxation vetoed by Merkel and Schauble may not be that pleasant experience and could involve cuts far more eyewatering than anything Osborne has attempted thus far. By the same token staying in the EU but out of closer political, monetary and financial union will mean that we are really just a semi detached and marginalised trading partner with little or no say in the EU direction. The reality is that many European leaders regard the attempts of both Conservative and Labour mainstream British politicians to endlessly finesse the relationship with the EU as being just as irritating and a good deal more hypocritical than the outright hostility of UKIP.

While I agree that those who think quitting the EU will magically solve the UK's many problems are delusional that does not mean that that those who think we should stay in the European project do not have their own illusions about what that reality might mean.

[T_i_B]

6. The pro-EU camp can be as infuriating as UKIP

You get Europhiles who are almost totally uncritical of the EU, and there is the tendency of the pro-EU camp to stick their heads in the sand when confronted with the likes of UKIP running rings around them.

I don't think renegotiating the UK's relationship with the EU will achieve anything of substance. What is really needed though, is a Europe wide campaign for urgent reform of the EU. And I for one would like to see the UK lead such a campaign.

[dipsydoodle]

7. EU referendum bill to be put forward by Tory MP

A drawn-out parliamentary battle over the holding of an EU referendum by 2017 is now in prospect after the Tory MP James Wharton came top of the private member's ballot and vowed to try to pilot such a bill on to the statute book.

The move follows a show of strength by Tory Eurosceptics on Wednesday night in a vote on an amendment on the Queen's speech that regretted the absence of an in/out EU referendum bill in the government's legislative programme. Dissenting Conservative MPs numbered 114, although David Cameron's aides insisted the vote was not a blow to his authority because he had allowed a free vote and was relaxed about the outcome.

John Barron, leader of the Tory dissidents, said: "We are going to keep at this. There is deep distrust out there. Legislation is more realistic than a manifesto promise."

Wharton, the young MP for Stockton South, said his bill was the best way to deal with the issue and to allow parliament to decide.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/may/16/eu-referendum-bill-james-wharton

[LeftishBrit]

8. As a lifelong Euro-ditherer...

I think we should have had a referendum on Maastricht; it was a big constitutional change with lots of implications, and was rushed through too fast without much consultation. However, as we didn't, I'm not quite sure what a referendum now is going to achieve, except spending a lot of money that we supposedly don't have, and providing an opportunity for Cameron to pander to UKIP.