Labour MPs up pressure for EU referendum
Gordon Brown is facing more pressure over the EU treaty, with some of his own MPs now joining calls for a referendum.
Ian Davidson, MP for Glasgow South West, said the treaty should be put to a referendum in its present form – as was promised in the Labour manifesto.
Mr Davidson is leading a group of up to 40 MPs who want Mr Brown to renegotiate the treaty to put more emphasis on social issues.
They are preparing a 15-point plan for the prime minister, which they argue would improve the treaty and omit the need for a referendum.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Davidson said: “Public opinion in Britain, the same as everywhere else in Europe, accepts that the constitution is basically the same as the treaty. We want to see positive changes and developments in our Europe.”
He said Labour had made a “clear and unequivocal manifesto commitment to have a referendum”.
Mr Davidson insisted his aim was to reform the treaty not force a referendum, but said this would be necessary in its present shape.
Tony Blair insisted the treaty was not a constitution and therefore did not need to be put to a referendum, with Gordon Brown since adopting the same response.
However, an increasing number of politicians and organisations across Europe have said the treaty bares many of the hallmarks of the constitution, which was rejected by a public vote in France and the Netherlands two years ago.
Mr Davidson said: “It was good enough at the general election; the treaty and constitution are exactly the same thing.”
He added: “We can’t keep ramming things through in Europe with an elite driving forward proposals that the people don’t accept.”
The group of Labour MPs insisted renegotiating the treaty is a realistic option and would create the “opportunity for a number of positive changes”.
Mr Davidson said the new prime minister had already shown himself to be willing to break with Mr Blair’s policies, pointing to U-turns over super casinos and cannabis and a change of thinking over Iraq.
The UK Independence Party welcomed the pressure from Labour MPs.
Party leader Nigel Farage said: “Gordon Brown must be the only man in the country who doesn’t realise that we have to have a referendum on this treaty.”
The Conservatives have long lobbied Mr Brown to hold a referendum on the EU treaty, confident it will be rejected by the British public.
This week, trade unions broke ranks with Labour to call for a vote. The rail workers union RMT have submitted a motion for next month’s TUC congress, saying the EU treaty is “substantially the same” as the rejected EU constitution.
