WHY I SAY NO TO A REFERENDUM

Stafford’s Labour MP David Kidney explains his “No” vote in the House of Commons on a referendum to approve the Lisbon Treaty:
“I think that Parliament is right to ratify the amending Lisbon Treaty. Labour promised a referendum on the proposed Constitution for the EU. But the voters of France and the Netherlands beat us to it – they voted no and the Constitution was abandoned. What we have instead is a further amending Treaty, the traditional method of updating the rules for the running of the EU.
“When people say that the Lisbon Treaty is nearly the same as the Constitution, there are two reasons why much is the same. First, both approaches leave in place all the existing institutions (the Parliament, Council of Ministers, Commission and Court of Justice, for example) so that all the provisions relating to them will be the same. And secondly, the reason for both is that the rules have to be modernised because of enlargement. Rules devised for an alliance of 6 member states (subsequently, 9, 10, 12 and then 15) will not work for an alliance of 27 member states. So, for example, the amending Treaty ends the right of every member state to have a
Commissioner all the time.

“UK negotiators obtained a number of exceptions from the provisions in respect of this Treaty, securing the Government's so-called "red lines". And there are changes that are positively to be welcomed, including new powers for member states’ parliaments to stop euro laws and for states to give notice and leave the EU if they want to.
“In our Parliamentary democracy, we have always ratified Treaties by Act of Parliament. The last Tory government ratified the Maastricht Treaty this way, refusing to allow a referendum. William Hague wrote in his book Speaking with Conviction (1998): "Democratic accountability is under threat – paradoxically – from the Government’s regular use of referendums". Clearly, every other Government in the EU takes the same view since no country is holding a referendum except Ireland where a referendum is always required.
“To reassure people who fear we are heading for a Euro super-state, I would say that enlargement is the antidote. The EU ties are looser not stronger because of this large, diverse alliance between independent, democratic states representing around half a billion people. What we need to concentrate on at the European level are those activities where we can be a force for good in the world by working together: peace, security, free exchange of ideas, trade and tackling climate change.”