Referendum No More

OK, let's be clear, to suggest that the Conservatives should hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty after it has been ratified is ridiculous. Surely on that we can all (save for Dan Hannan) agree.

Vaclav Klaus has signed the Treaty bringing an end to the policy of the Tory party to hold a referendum on our own ratification. So what policy is next for the Conservatives?

A referendum on the UK's place in the European Union? Perhaps, Cameron has to keep the poised UKIP party at bay somehow, not to mention sweeten the anti-EU majority element in his party.

Accept the status quo? I would suggest so. It's not Cameron's fault that Labour reneged on its promise to hold a referendum so surely this is a reasonable stance for the Tory leader to take, irrespective of how rueful he allows himself to be (or act).

Speaking of EU referendums that were promised but we'll never receive, check out the incredible hypocrisy from John Prescott MP on his Twitter feed:

Looks like Cameron's cast iron guarantee has gone rusty! RT @DavidWooding Hague confirms Tories will NOT hold referendum on Lisbon Treaty.

Settle down John, there's still only one party that holds a monopoly on disappointing the public with regard to EU referendums.

It's an intriguing quandary that the Tories find themselves in but our position in Europe should not be compromised by Cameron's 'sop to the party's Europhobes'*. He needs to face them down and argue UKIP into not being an electoral threat in the General Election campaign if he has to have any credibility on Europe.

We need to integrate further with Europe, not shy away. We should start off by joining the Euro as the past year alone has shown how dangerous it is to be outside of the common currency. Infact, if Labour were brave and smart, they would adopt the policy of joining the Euro immediately after the General Election, turning the contest into a referendum on leaving Sterling rather than a referendum on deciding just how bad Gordon Brown is as Prime Minister.

So the ratification is bad news for the Tories, good news for Labour, bad news for John Prescott (who has shown far too much hubris), excellent news for Dan Hannan (who won't be off our screens for the next month) and woeful news for this poor chap.


(* that line was lifted from David Aaronovitch's excellent article this morning)


UPDATE:

Ha, I swear I didn't know he was coming on, but 5 minutes after writing this post Dan Hannan popped onto Channel 4 News.

Key quotes include:

"it would be curious for us to have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty"

"I would much rather have a wider referendum on the repatriation of powers to the United Kingdom"

Also, during the Tory Conference Hannan had this to say (via the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg):

Daniel Hannan tells me Cameron is 'working privately' to encourage Czechs and Poles not to ratify the Lisbon treaty#cpc09

I guess that goes down as a fail from DC then...