Douglas Carswell's Blog

EU referendum "lock" worthless

The government is offering us a referendum "lock", which would guarantee any future EU treaty required a plebiscite.

Do ministers take us for fools? 

This “lock” is worthless – and ministers must know it. Under the Lisbon Treaty (no referendum), the EU doesn't need any more treaties to give itself more powers.  That, Mr Hague and Mr Lidington, was kind of the point of offering a referendum in the first place  ....

Incidentally, since we promised this “lock”, the EU has 1) established a diplomatic corps, which we voted through the Commons, 2) given Eurocrats control over the City, 3) extended the EU arrest warrant, and 4) agreed to an inflation-busting EU budget increase.  We've hardly stopped give the EU more powers since May, have we?

The idea this referendum "lock" stops Brussels from continuing to assume more powers, usually with ministerial acquiesce, is balls. We might have had a change of ministers at the Foreign Office this year, but I can see no evidence of any change in EU integrationist policy.

UPDATE:  It is quite impossible to continue with the pretence that ministers make Europe policy.  They merely regurgitate the policy fed to them by the permanent civil service.   

With that in mind, I've tabled a series of questions asking about Kim Darroch, head of UKRep, and  one of the people who really decides things....  

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