Okay this is a strange one. From a party thats normally very pro-Europe. The Lib Dems are now calling for a Referendum on British Membership of the EU! I know they wanted a referendum on the constitutional treaty, but not the current reform treaty so where does this come from?
Ming had this to say "It is time to end the shadow boxing on Europe and to have an honest debate on the future of Europe."
Now for me, a party that's pro-europe holding a referendum on British membership of the EU is a bit iffy as they leave themsleves wide open to loosing pro-europe support (the majority of their voters IMO) So they might gain from the Tories on this issue but they cant beat a Euro-sceptic party on this.
The Lib Dem Conference starts this weekend in Brighton. Will post any interesting speeches.
Source: The Guardian
Saturday, September 15, 2007
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I'd say that this is actually a fairly dishonest way of avoiding a debate on the treaty/constitution -- the Lib Dems know that the British people won't vote to leave the EU (probably solely because of the importance of the free trade area) but probably would vote against the treaty, so doing this may seem strange, but it's in fact quite a tricky move, and one totally in keeping with the Lib Dems' previous strategies.
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