DM letter: Challenges for the Tories
6 October 2009

DM campaign director Marc Glendening has the lead letter in today's Evening Standard, responding to an article yesterday by Matthew d'Ancona about the Conservatives and a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

Here's Marc's response in full:

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To support his view that the Tories should drop their commitment to a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty once it is ratified to avoid charges of crankiness, Matthew d'Ancona concludes, "a referendum is a fine thing but after 12 years ... a red box is finer"
(5 October).

But here is the crux of the matter: EU directives already account for a majority of the laws we must obey. If Lisbon goes through, 60 further areas of decision-making will be subject to majority voting in Brussels and EU leaders, meeting in secret, will be able to add unstipulated new powers.

If David Cameron becomes PM after the treaty has gone through and he abandons his referendum pledge, to what extent will owning those ministerial red boxes mean anything?

The Tories must now decide whether they will play the political game by the EU's rules, or risk outraging Brussels' political class and metropolitan liberal opinion - but not lose any general election votes - by letting the British people determine their own future.

It should not be forgotten that without the UK's contribution to the EU budget, the whole edifice would collapse: an important bargaining chip for the next government.
Marc Glendening, The Democracy Movement

Not Liberal - Not Democrats
12 May 2009: updated 30 November 2009

The DM has launched a hard-hitting campaign to highlight the growing conflict between the Liberal Democrats' claimed values and their enthusiasm for handing ever more decision-making to the EU.

The campaign started in the run up to the European Parliament elections on 4th June but will continue right through until the next general election, which is expected within months.

The campaign follows a succession of affronts to democracy and civil liberties committed by the Liberal Democrats, caused by their enthusiasm for handing ever more decision-making to the EU. They amount to a stark conflict between the party's claimed values and actions that can no longer be allowed to pass unnoticed.

Not only did they vote to approve the highly illiberal and anti-democratic Lisbon Treaty, but at every stage of the treaty's progress through Parliament the Lib Dems did what it took - abstaining in the Commons and voting against in the Lords - to prevent us being given the EU referendum they promised us at the last general election.

In addition, their group in the European Parliament, led by Lib Dem MEP Graham Watson, gave money to the 'Yes' side in the repeat Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, disrespecting the previous clear and democratic 'No' vote.

That's why our campaign has been called Not Liberal - Not Democrats.

Powers the Lib Dems approved handing to the EU have resulted in:

Having approved treaties handing the EU powers to make such laws, the Lib Dems then posture in opposition when the inevitably authoritarian implications become known. Yet once EU laws are made they cannot be blocked by national Parliaments.

A giant mobile poster bearing the campaign slogan (pictured above) has been deployed to rove the marginal seats of the party's Westminster MPs who refused to support the EU referendum they promised local voters.

The roadshow will be accompanied by a targetted local leafleting and letter-writing campaign by DM activists, and many other activities. Thousands of campaign leaflets have already been distributed in Liverpool, Totnes, Aylesbury, Welwyn Garden City, Bakewell, Stanford le Hope, Richmond-upon-Thames, Folkestone, Tunbridge Wells, Norwich, Bournemouth, Maidenhead and Havant.

Luton EU Referendum: The Results
21 October 2008

The DM has scored a resounding victory in the Luton EU referendum.

After a head-to-head battle with the European Movement, filmed for ITV's Tonight programme, 63% voted 'No' to the Lisbon Treaty and a ground-breaking 54% voted to come out of the EU altogether.

The programme documenting the event was shown on ITV1 and is typically watched by between 3 and 6 million viewers.

The result reflects major disatisfaction not just with the prospect of further decision-making being passed to the EU but also with the extent of the EU's current powers, its financial costs and the damaging effects of its activities.

Click here for the full results and more about the Luton referendum campaign on the DM blog.

Click here for more about our Break Free campaign.

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