Tag Archives: european union bill

Opinion: EU Bill is bad Tory policy

By Andrew Duff | Wed 15th December 2010 - 9:55 am

The European Union Bill is a Tory policy. The Liberal Democrats went into the last election arguing for a referendum on whether the UK should stay in or leave the EU. Thankfully, having lost the election, we were not in a position to test public opinion on that one.

The Conservative party wanted a referendum on the Lisbon treaty in order to repatriate powers and to entrench national sovereignty. On losing the election they discovered that Lisbon was already in force and could not be undone. So their new tactic was to undermine the Lisbon settlement whenever opportunity arose, and it …

Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged European referendum, european union and lisbon treaty | 26 Comments

Jeremy Browne writes… Given citizens control over future proposals to give the EU more powers

By Jeremy Browne MP | Tue 7th December 2010 - 3:25 pm

Today the Coalition will bring forward legislation to allow every British citizen to have a say on future changes to the EU Treaties where those changes transfer power or competence from Britain to the European Union.

Britain has been a member of the European Union since the 1970s and we have benefited from closer cooperation. We should also remember that the union is one of the greatest successful demonstrations of the expansion of democracy and liberal values in history. From the post-war stabilisation of western Europe to the removal of the Iron Curtain, the European Union has provided its members with …

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged european union | 18 Comments