Answered by William Hague
If there were a referendum, with the public voting in favour of the treaty, how do you feel this would affect the Conservative party's approach to European policy?
I don’t think holding would set a dangerous precedent at all. In fact, holding a referendum on this Treaty would be an excellent start.
If you are proposing a major, perhaps permanent, change to how decisions are made there is a good case for consulting voters in a referendum. And if you’re proposing to hand significant decision-making powers away from our parliament and our courts to the EU then people should certainly have a say.
That’s why the Conservative Party has said that if the British people choose a Conservative government at the next election we will change the law so that any new EU Treaty that transfers powers (‘competences’ in Euro-jargon) would have to be put to a referendum.
It is quite extraordinarily arrogant and undemocratic that this Government should be forcing through this Treaty without letting the British people have any say on the matter at all, either at a general election or in a referendum, especially when they promised a referendum on the substantially identical EU Constitution in their election manifesto.
It is even more shocking that the Labour Government’s clear preference is for the Irish to be made to vote twice before the British people get a chance to vote once.
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