"I'm
concerned about a number of issues, for example the effect on public
services, such as health, where the NHS in my opinion faces some dangers
from the Treaty - for the first time ever Europe is going to have
some powers over health."
Jon Trickett MP
(Labour) - BBC Radio 4, 25 January 2008
"There
are some changes, but very few. It's a bit like having a car, changing
a tyre and then pretending it's a completely different car. Of course
it's not. I don't accept for a moment that renegotiation is not possible."
Ian Davidson MP
(Labour) - The World This Weekend, BBC Radio 4,
20 January 2008
"As
Europe has grown it has become less democratic and more centralised.
Legislation is not properly scrutinised. It has its own momentum,
overriding both national and European parliaments. The Reform Treaty
does not address these problems. Gordon Brown has said that there
will be no further treaty changes for at least 10 years. That is to
freeze in place an undemocratic and centralising system. I cannot
accept that. For the sake of democracy, I must oppose this treaty
and support calls for a referendum on it."
Richard Younger-Ross MP
(Lib Dem) - PA News, 25 October 2007
"I
think it's a bit upsetting ... to see so many countries running away
from giving their people an opportunity [of a referendum]. If you
believe in something ... why not let your people have a say in it."
Bertie Ahern,
Irish Prime Minister - Irish
Independent, 20 October 2007
“This
document, irrespective of what you call it, substantively is still
the same as the Constitution. This is something which we as Labour
MPs went into the 2005 election promising a referendum on. It is a
question of trust.”
Gisela
Stuart MP (Labour), former junior minister and
member of the Convention that drew up the EU Constitution - Sunday
Times,
2 September 2007
“I
think people are fundamentally worried about the treaty. I hope a
referendum will be seriously considered because I believe there is
strong support for it in the country.”
Gwyneth Dunwoody MP
(Labour) - Sunday
Times, 2 September 2007
“I
think a referendum is inevitable now. More and more people are picking
up demands from their constituents, it is going to be hard to resist
it.”
Ian Gibson MP
(Labour) - Sunday
Times, 2 September 2007
“You
couldn’t fit a needle between the treaty and the constitution. There
is growing momentum for a referendum. The government is going to maintain
that it is not going to happen, but I don’t think they can avoid it.”
Kate Hoey MP (Labour)
- Sunday
Times, 2 September 2007
"I,
for one, wholeheartedly support the idea of having a referendum. I
did at the outset of the process and I retain that view today.”
Mike Hancock MP
(Lib Dem) - Hansard,
26 July 2007
"When
it comes to the revised treaty on the European Constitution, this
is actually something where the government should honour its original
pledge and ask the people and have a referendum on it"
Gisela Stuart MP
(Labour), former member of the Convention that drew up the EU Constitution
- interview, World
at One BBC Radio 4, 26 July 2007
"The
Foreign Secretary and the Europe Minister, who at the moment deny
this treaty is substantial enough that we should be bound by that
promise, they are either being deliberately disingenuous or ill-informed."
Gisela
Stuart MP (Labour), former member of the Convention
that drew up the EU Constitution - interview, World
at One BBC Radio 4, 26 July 2007
"The
document itself is substantially the same document on which, in the
last general election, I fought an election on a manifesto committment
that we would ask the people."
Gisela Stuart MP
(Labour), former member of the Convention that drew up the EU Constitution
- interview, World
at One BBC Radio 4, 26 July 2007
"The
red lines that we now say we have secured and therefore don't
need a referendum, actually those red lines were already protected
in the constitutional treaty on which we were prepared to give
a referendum. Nothing has changed."
Gisela
Stuart MP (Labour), former member of the
Convention that drew up the EU Constitution - BBC
News, 26 July 2007
"Most
of the EU leaders have admitted, or even boasted, that the new
treaty is the same as the original constitution. It would mean
fundamental change in the relationship between the EU and the
UK. The government must keep its promise to hold a referendum"
Simon
Wolfson,
Chief Executive, Next plc and others - Letter, Financial
Times, 24 July 2007
"I,
for one, believe that even pro-Europeans should embrace a referendum
and I hope and expect that the Liberal Democrats as a whole will
call for a vote on the mini or reform treaty, or whatever it is
finally called. "
Diana
Wallis MEP
(Lib Dem) - Letter, Yorkshire
Post, 14 July 2007
"The
[referendum] pledge was right at the time of the general election
and it is right now ... Europe can only be developed with the
wholehearted support of its citizens"
Paul Kenny, general secretary of
the GMB union - Daily
Telegraph, 6 July 2007
"I think
the world has changed. I think voting every four years and basically
handing over responsibility and power to other people and then
doing nothing again for four years, I think our democracy is not
like that any more."
Hazel Blears MP
(Labour), Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
- The
Guardian, 5 July 2007
"My
overriding belief is that people are capable of making quite complex
difficult decisions, setting priorities, doing trade-offs if they
are given the opportunity to do it. I have never believed in a paternalistic
society that tells people what is good for them."
Hazel
Blears MP (Labour), Secretary of State for Communities
and Local Government - The
Guardian, 5 July 2007
