Comment: Miliband has run out of excuses for opposing an EU referendum
By Richard Heller
He's had a busy couple of weeks, so Ed Miliband may not have noticed that it is now impossible to refuse the British people a referendum on EU membership.
His stance on this issue has always sat awkwardly with his claim to stand up for them against vested interests. His prime argument has been the inconvenience and uncertainty which a referendum would create for major companies (ie vested interests). This was developed in his speech on the EU last March at the London Business School, http://press.labour.org.uk/post/79351017940/speech-by-ed-miliband-to-the-london-business-school and of course it is based on the unacknowledged fear that the British people might vote 'the wrong way'. Indeed, it's an argument against having any democratic elections at all, since these are also an unnecessary nuisance for business leaders.
Now Ed Miliband has to defend his stance in the light of the Scottish referendum and its aftermath.
The Scots are about to secure major improvements in their status within the United Kingdom. Does he really believe that this would have happened without a referendum on continued membership of the UK and without the threat of withdrawal? Why does he want to deny English (and Welsh and Northern Irish) voters the use of a weapon that worked so well for the Scots?
Labour has big plans for reform of the EU. We have to take them on trust because it is almost impossible to ascertain them from any party document. Labour's European election manifesto did express a polite hope that Common Agricultural Policy spending might be reduced, in the tones of Sergeant Wilson giving an order to the platoon in Dad’s Army: "I say, would you mind awfully spending a little less on agriculture and a bit more on science and industry?" Otherwise, Labour's negotiating objectives in the EU are as vague as David Cameron's.
However, no matter what Labour does want to achieve in the EU it is crazy to abandon the negotiating strength that it would gain from a referendum. Moreover, given the fierce and persistent distrust of Westminster politics it would be rash of Ed Miliband to rely on a whipped vote from MPs to give democratic legitimacy to whatever settlement he does secure in the EU. Again, as a self-proclaimed man of the people he should be ready to take this direct to the people.
In belated fear of an English backlash against the panic-stricken concessions to the Scots, Ed Miliband in his speech promised: "a proper constitutional convention harnessing the civic energy and spirit of people right across our land. England, Scotland, Wales, every part of the United Kingdom."
Put another way: the Scots are to get all their Christmas presents now, and everyone else may get the chance to send a list to Santa next year (and, incidentally, the Scots will be allowed to ask for another set of presents).
If Miliband is ready to consult English voters on English devolution, which bores most of them rigid and will make very little difference to their lives, how can he continue to refuse to consult them on EU membership, which means so much more to them?
By continuing to hold out against an EU referendum Miliband will manage to look simultaneously snobbish, stubborn, slippery and silly. It would be far better for him to change his position by choice than to be forced out of it by ridicule.
Richard Heller was formerly political adviser to Denis Healey and Gerald Kaufman. He has been a professional speechwriter for over thirty years and is the author of standard manual High Impact Speeches (published by Prentice Hall Business). His latest novella, Your Very Own Ricky Rubato, was recently published at Lulu.
The opinions in politics.co.uk's Comment and Analysis section are those of the author and are no reflection of the views of the website or its owners.
