Watch my lips
Before the last election Conservatives, Labour and Liberal-Democrats promised a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. There’s no sign that will happen.
In 2007 David Cameron wrote, “...a Conservative government will hold a referendum on any EU treaty that emerges from these negotiations.” He repeated the promise last May, adding that they would also pass a law requiring a referendum to approve any further transfers of power to the EU and negotiate the return of powers to Britain.
Now Cameron says that the time for a referendum has passed, but he makes another promise to hold a referendum on any future treaty. He says there would be “full parliamentary control” over the self-amending and ‘ratchet’ clauses in the Lisbon Treaty. But he knows full well that Treaty ends all national and democratic controls over European Union bodies.
Chop, chop
The European Commission is telling Britain to cut the budget deficit down from a prospective 12 per cent of GDP to 3 per cent by 2014-15. That would mean about £25 billion in spending cuts and tax rises every year.
The European Commission has also demanded that RBS and Lloyds sell off branches, causing 3,700 job losses.
Plans to build a ten-mile tidal barrage across the River Severn that could generate up to 5 per cent of Britain’s electricity are likely to be shelved under a government cost-cutting drive.
The EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) costs Britain £16.4 billion a year. The EU now wants to fund its £110 billion annual budget through “green taxes”. ETS would become a direct tax, increasing the burden on each British family from £117 to £658 a year.
Meanwhile, Treasury figures show that British taxpayers are funding child benefit payments of over £20 million for 37,900 children who live in Poland, while one or both of their parents live and work here in Britain. The payouts come despite government assurances that migrants from new EU member states would not immediately be eligible for most benefits.