Morecambe and Lunesdale MP Geraldine Smith has called for a referendum on whether Britian should remain part of the European Union.
Speaking yesterday during the Prime Minister’s debate about proposed changes for the reform of Parliament following the recent expenses scandal, Smith declared “One democratic reform that I feel that the British public would like to see is a referendum on the principle of whether we remain in the European Union.
“No one under the age of 50 has had a chance to vote on the question of Europe,” she noted, “and I think that, as a matter of course, we should have a referendum once every 15 to 20 years.”
The Prime Minister, who has already sidestepped demands for a referendum over the Lisbon Treaty and the adoption of the controversial European constitution, was unimpressed.
“This issue was not put to the people by the Conservative Government who put us into the European Union,” he replied. “It was not put to the people when we went into the European Common Market, but it was put by a Labour Government in 1975. The conclusion was pretty clear—two thirds of the people wanted to be part of the Union. I do not think that that opinion has fundamentally changed.”
Commenting a call from Labour MP Kate Hoey for a referendum on the European constitution, Brown said the government had been very careful to defend British interests when the Lisbon Treaty was signed.
“By the red lines that we drew for the Lisbon treaty, we have done everything in our power to protect the position of British citizens in areas where we want this Parliament and this country to make their own decisions,” he declared. “However, while we are thinking about Europe, I must remind my hon. Friend that three million jobs depend on our membership of the EU, that 700,000 British companies trade with the EU, and that 60 per cent of our exports go to the EU.
“We have a purposeful relationship with the EU that is in the interests of our economy, environment and security, and the idea that we should not have that relationship at this point in the 21st century seems to me to be wrong.”