You are in:
- Contents » Liberty
Blair's Irish Joke
Tony Blair has hinted that if Britain says no to the European constitution, voters will be asked to give their opinion on the treaty a second time.
Blair's strategy, in which the public will be asked the same question in slightly different terms until the EU gets an answer it likes, echoes the double referendum in Ireland for the Nice Treaty.
In 2001, Ireland's voters rejected the treaty in a referendum. On Brussels' instructions, Ireland's government changed the wording and asked weary voters to ratify the treaty once more: This time, the Eurocrats got the answer they wanted. A similar scam was used on Denmark's voters following the Maastricht treaty in 1992.
Reaction to the scheme has ranged from outrage to hilarity: Shadow foreign minister Michael Ancram fumed that the British public would never allow the government to get away with it (true enough) while fellow Tory David Cameron had a good old laugh at the government's expense, urging readers not to place bets on the outcome of the referendum, but on whether Britons are asked to vote twice - or even at all.
No referendum? Cameron isn't claiming that Blair plans to snatch away Britain's democratic right so soon after granting it. Instead, he predicts that if other countries reject the deal between now and autumn 2005, there will be no need for a vote.
Oddly enough, Britain's foreign secretary Jack Straw agrees - or appears to. Speaking on the BBC's Today programme this morning, Straw said that if Britain's "red lines" are not secured in when the final constitution treaty is discussed in June, Blair will not sign the treaty. No signature = no referendum.
"It's possible that there could be agreement at the inter-governmental conference at the end of June, but there are quite a lot of issues to resolve," Straw said.
Tough talking from the government's foreign policy hard man and (relative) Eurosceptic?
Or a bargaining ploy, designed to win those very concessions on taxation, foreign policy, criminal justice and labour law? The EU's other governments are deeply troubled by Britain's referendum. If Britain votes No, the treaty could be binned. Perhaps federalists will be more likely to allow Britain to keep its vetos if they believe it will help Blair secure a Yes vote.
