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Eurealist :: Main Page: “The government’s dirty trick over the Referendum Bill
by Eurealist on May 25, 2005 11:17AM (BST)
Last night the Government published a bill preparing for a British referendum on the EU constitution next year. All well and good, except the same bill, entitled the European Union bill, allows for both the British referendum and for the constitution to be adopted into UK law if approved.

Which means that any MP who does not want the Constitution but wants to vote for a referendum on the Constitution must also vote for the Constitution itself which they really do not want. The reverse is also true that an MP who want the Constitution but does not want the people to be consulted, must in that case either vote against the people being consulted in which case they are also voting against the Constitution which they really want.

So a vote for the constitution is also a vote for the referendum, a vote against the constitution is also a vote against a referendum. Of course just to make sure they have covered as many possibilities as possible the result of a British referendum would not be legally binding on the government, it can if it wishes ratify the constitution even after we have all said “No””