Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Hague speaks with forked tongue

So William Hague makes his great conference speech. He bangs the drum for a referendum, he accuses Brown of deception. All good stuff
But then goes on to do the same thing himself.

"We will go further: the next Conservative Government will end the 1972 European Communities Act, so that if any future government agrees any treaty that transfers further competences from Britain to the EU a national referendum before it could be ratified would be required by law."
Please note that he says "any treaty" not any revision of the Treaty. He knows about Article 33, the simplified revision treaty. How can I say that, because here he is in the Daily Mail of the 2nd August a brief two months ago saying, about the so called 'ratchet clause'

"All vetoes other than over defence can be abolished by agreements between European governments in future, without having to go through the whole process of negotiating a fresh treaty or ratifying that in any formal way"
So why is he saying something that he knows is not the constitutional guarantee that those in the hall, and those who will read the papers tomorrow believe it to be.

Let it be said once and for all, there will be no need of a new EU Treaty after this one. There is the procedure in place to ensure that they will never have to put everything on the line again. In the future it will be piecemeal, and this promise to amend the European Communities Act, though good in its own way does not do what he suggests. Further amendments, which the government of the day support - with or without the support of the British people - will still go through Parliament under the current Westminster procedure and this safeguard is as much use as a phoning the local police in the event of a burglary.
Update
Seems like somebody liked the photomontage. Hague at Blackpool

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr Hague is working in the grounds that the Constitution/Treaty we are presently being assaulted with is beaten off.

I'm a secessionist myself, but I don't believe Hague is a europhile.

Gawain Towler said...

If that is so, and I pray to god it is, then good.
However, please don't ask me to trust either him or the Tories on this. We have been let down too many times before.

And no, I don't believe he is a Europhile either never did, but I don't think he is prepared to allow himself to see the logical conclusion of what he propses.

Unknown said...

I love the chap but I am afraid he quite clearly told Andrew Neil that he supports the EU and supports our continued membership. He would work to change from inside - and that I believe is the official policy of the Conservatives. Question is - does anyone believe the EU can be changed? I certainly don't.

Mike Wood said...

It does appear that someone in the CCHQ press office can't type (or possibly can't read)
Hague's speech actually said "We will amend the 1972 European Communities Act [...]"

A couple of weeks ago you were saying that no-one in the Shadow Cabinet had said that the Conservative Party would campaign for a no vote in the referendum. Does Cameron's speech finally convince you that that is the Party's position?

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