"I support a referendum on EU membership and it doesn't really matter who is responsible for bringing it to the table"
So do I now.
"Everyone who believes in democracy (be they pro-EU, anti-EU, or completely indifferent) should support this in my view."
Alan Sked used to say that UKIP should fight a referendum but not seek one, and instead simply aim for a majority in Parliament who favour withdrawal. At present though UKIP is too pigeon holed as an MEP party in the electorate's mind I think. Besides which, losing a referendum would put the issue beyond a referendum for a generation but would not preclude a change of heart by voters in elections. A referendum is no more once and forever than a General Election in my view. It is only objectionable when the result is ignored if another is called in a year with the presentation changed only. The govt would be bound to follow the result in my view but only until the next GE when the ticket on which MPs were elected would supercede as the more recent democratic mandate. Indeed, if a referendum was called and lost, ie the public voted to stay in the EU by some miracle, and it would certainly be by the narrowest of margins, it would force Eurosceptic parties to further broaden their manifestos to rebut the inevitable refusal of the mainstream parties to discuss the "decided" question of Europe (they do this now anyway).
Would a referendum on the EU further democracy? Yes I think it probably would. A gulf separates the electorate and politicians. A vote on something that really matters would stimulate ideas about how Britain should progress, be it in or out of the EU, regardless of the cynical way the troika parties would view the whole thing.
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Tom Collier
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