eurealist.co.uk

For some time now I have had on several occasions to differ with Pro Europeans about the governments rights or otherwise of using public money to promote a yes on the constitution.

For some reason any thoughts of fair play goes out of the window when this subject is aired. It has been suggested that the EU and the Government have every right to use our money to rebut stories in the British Eusceptic Press? No they do not, nobody is forced to pay for any newspaper if they do not wish, so any argument those outlets may decide to promote, does not require the government to spend our money to rebut, that is logical nonsense, and would only make sense if the newspapers concerned were also using public money, in any event government minister have a much greater ability to get their message across to the public, all they have to do is call a press conference, and every media outlet will attend and every medial outlet will subsequently print or broadcast the governments s side.

Each side in the debate will receive public funding to enable them to promote their arguments, there will be an official Yes and official NO campaign who will receive an equal amount of funding the reason advanced for this is to ensure a fair debate. In the 1975 referendum the Yes side backed by the government practically all of the press and the BBC outspent the No side by 10 times. The Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act has made it supposedly impossible for this to happen again, but although it has limited the spending, the official sides can use, (5million each) it has no cap on government or EU spending up until 28 days before the referendum for the government, of course this does not apply to the EU who are free to spend what they like.

What we discovered in the NE Referendum was that government Ministers were campaigning right up to the referendum date supposedly in their capacity as labour party members? This broke their own code of conduct so they said they were campaigning as private citizens and members of the labour Party and not government ministers yet their press pulling power is still that of a Minister, so if someone could explain at exactly what stage a government minister become a private citizen, in the middle of a campaign when their or at what stage their government travel arrangements and their police protection is no longer paid for out of the public purse and becomes their own responsibility perhaps they could explain it to the Electorial Commision who’s job it is to see a balanced debate and who failed miserably in the North East .

For a referendum to have any value, it is vital for the losing side to accept that it was on the whole fairly conducted. That would not be the case if; the government used the machinery of government to promote one side or the other.

What is important is that this is a referendum for a constitution it is not about Labour v Conservative or Liberal Democrats against UKIP, the referendum is not based on party policies, but on direct democracy, the people must agree to give the politicians the power to change our Constitution for the EU constitution. In this debate the EU has no place, it is the supplicant it has set out its stall asking for more power and more control, it is up to us to decide if we wish to grant it that power. We do not need MEP`S explaining the Constitution for us or putting an EU spin on the debate, it will be their fault if they have made their Constitution to difficult to understand. But they have no right to spend taxpayer money on propaganda in order to see their demands met.

A fair and balanced debate is not on the cards, these people have set in train a step in EU integration that has finally been too large for a British government to ratify without a clear mandate from the people. After 30 years of step by step integration we have this one opportunity at to last have our voices heard, but do not for one second believes the EU wants us to have this voice they do not and they will do everything they possibly can to keep their constitution, they will do everything they can to get us to vote yes.

FROM: Philip Benwell MBE
National Chairman
The Australian Monarchist League

TO MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

I am taking this opportunity to write to you with regard to two matters
which are of concern to people here in Australia as well as to those in all
of Her Majesty’s other Realms.

The first matter relates to the proposed Ten Minute Rule Motion by Mr
Jonathan Sayeed M. P. on the issue of the retirement of the Sovereign and
the choosing of Her Majesty’s successor by the House of Commons. Very few
people, particularly in the Realms, are aware that few Motions of this
nature ever proceed further and will undoubtedly be unduly influenced by the
media sensationalizing of this particular subject. May I emphasize that The
Crown belongs to all sixteen Commonwealth Realms and whatever the House of
Commons may debate, let alone legislate, will affect all of Her Majesty’s
subjects outside the Kingdom. It is for this purpose that the Statute of
Westminster requires: “that any alteration in the law touching the
Succession to the Throne or the Royal Style and Titles shall hereafter
require the assent as well of the Parliaments of all the Dominions as of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom.”

The second matter of concern is with regard to voting in the proposed
Referendum on the European Constitution. Many hundreds of thousands, if
not millions, of British citizens who reside outside of the United Kingdom
will be affected by the decision of the Referendum and we ask whether
consideration is being given to allowing ALL British citizens a vote
wherever residing in Britain or not?

Yours sincerely,

Philip Benwell

If in order to attempt to control the outcome of the Referendum on the EU Constitution, Tony Blair were not to allow postal voting for those British people living abroad, either in the EU countries or not, then he would in fact be denying British people a say in their own constitution, and the future of this country.

The Spanish government have rightly in my opinion, said that in Spain the vote is a matter solely for the Spanish people, and are not going to allow British living in Spain to take part in that referendum. Without a postal vote these and others throughout to world will be disenfranchised, if at the same time the government also allows other non British EU nationals to vote in our referendum, which has been mooted, then a close vote will not have a popular mandate from the people.

Time for a real EUMYTH

A particular piece of Europhile misinformation which so as not to cause confusion I will call propaganda, is that “3.5 million British jobs now depend on trade with our European Union partners”

This is presented as if those jobs rely solely on one thing, and that is our continued membership of the EU, the intention being to suggest that if we leave the Union those jobs would be lost.

When a government minister then enhances the statement and says that 3.5 million jobs depend on our membership of the EU that is a lie, the lie is achieved by changing one word “membership” instead of “trade”.

A lie moreover that has one intention and that is to strike fear into the voters to frighten them into voting yes.

“In the time-scale Blair is thinking of, Britain will not love Europe … when the day of judgement comes, fear must stalk the land.” Hugo Young (this on the Euro referendum but could equally apply to the Constitution referendum).

So where did the government and Europhiles get their information that forms the basis for their lie?

Well we know exactly where this came from, in 1999 “Britain in Europe” commissioned a report from the National Institute for Economic and Social Research. The report from that organisation did estimate that 3.5 million British jobs were linked to trade with the EU. But went on to say even if Britain were to leave the EU, few of those jobs would disappear, because we would continue trading with the EU much as we do now (and as do other non-EU countries, such as Norway and Switzerland) or Mexico or the USA or any other country.

When Britain in Europe received the report they issued a press release stating that “British withdrawal would cost 3.5 million jobs”.

However Dr Martin Weale the director of “National Institute for Economic and Social Research” complained that this was false, and described Britain in Europe’s statement as “pure Goebbels

So while the EU and its acolytes are quite happy to describe reports in the British press which are based on provable facts, as Euromyths, with the intention of building on the idea they have created, that Eusceptics are not being truthful and are not to be trusted, they themselves are quite happy to use exactly those same methods to undermine any argument Eusceptics make or to advance their ideas of a United States of Europe.

In my life I have come to accept the reliability of many old sayings, which seem to be based on some basic truth, one such saying is that “people judge others by their own thoughts and actions”