The people of the UK will not have the opportunity to vote in a referendum regarding the Lisbon treaty. Westminster voted to deny them this opportunity.
The treaty is a rehash of the constitution that the people of France and the Netherlands said no to in 2005. Campaigners wanted the proposed referendums to go ahead in various countries so they would also have the opportunity to say no. However, after seeing that public opinion was largely against the constitution those in power in various countries cancelled their proposed referendums and proceeded to try to work out a way to enforce the same policies under a different name.
Say hello to the Lisbon Treaty.
The rebranding of the constitution has also allowed New Labour to squirm out of its manifesto commitment to a referendum as it promised a vote on the constitution (which it cancelled after the defeat in Holland and France ensured it couldn’t be ratified – all the countries have to agree for something of this sort to be passed) but it hadn’t promised a vote on the treaty.
The people of Ireland will have the chance to have a referendum and it looks like they are going to be the only ones. Myself and millions of others can only hope they say no but given the importance that the leaders in various European countries attach to this treaty I can only assume that every trick in the book will be employed to make them say yes and that a lot of cash will be given to the yes campaign.
This story is a classic example of just how unrepresentative our democracies are. The ‘leaders’ saw that public opinion was against them so they have simply sought to sideline it, to remove it from the decision-making process.
If the public had went along with the idea then I am sure panegyrics would have been written about the wonderful democracies we live in. The fact that the public didn’t and don’t want these measures means that instead our (sic) leaders simply change the name, try to do it on the quiet and say ‘fuck you’ to the lot of us (Iraq, trident, nuclear power, GM foods etc etc).
It seems that what is called ‘representative democracy’ would be better named ‘coincidental democracy’. That is to say that when the wishes of the people coincide with the wishes of the people in power then all well and good but if they don’t coincide then they just find some way to stick it to us anyway.
Do the right thing Ireland.
See also…
michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com 
I was going to d oa post on this myself, but I find myself wondering just what is the point. It is clear, as you rightly state, that democracy has more to do with coincidence than anything else.
I don’t know if it’s possible but I would hope that, come the next election, the party (coservative I presume) who replace the labour tyranny will do something to overturn this nonsense … although I’ll not hold my breath.
It has occurred to me that the Lib Dems may have been ‘bought off’ on this one in some sort of secret deal … not unlike the deal, which has recently come to light, that Brown sought with Menzies over keeping the SNP out of power in Holyrood. Do you know if I’m right in thinking that the vote was one by the same number of Lib Dems who abstained … and of course had the Lib Dems voted with the Tories it has been suggested that there would have been a larger Labour rebellion.
In terms of Ireland, there seems to be some confidence in the reports I’ve heard that it will be passed with some ease … I guess we’ll know soon enough.
I’ve only recently discovered the fact that the EU have already voted to ignore the result of the Irish referendum if it is in the negative.
No. Really.
Which begs the question as to why the hell we’re going through with it. Many of us tend to be pretty cynical about the influence of our vote as it is. I can imagine few things more depressing than exercising my right to vote in the knowledge that a decision has been made to ignore it unless I vote in a specific way.
jim – do you have a source for that?
alasdair – it is not looking too good at the moment.
Ireland have rejected the Lisbon Treaty.
Its time to change the Lisbon Treaty and put it to the people.
Ireland is calling for a fairer deal as regards the treaty and for Europe to acknwledge its status as being a democratic union.
That means 27 referendums in 27 countries. Thats how lisbon should be ratified