Hague attacks government 'deceit' over EU treaty

I am not familiar with UK politics but I read this article and wanted to share and get some of our UK members to explain to me there thoughts on this man, his concerns, his ideas on this subject.

ARTICLE

William Hague today accused the government of "bare-faced political deceit" over the EU treaty as he promised a Conservative government would change the law to make a referendum compulsory.
The shadow foreign secretary announced plans to change the law so that "never again could a government sign away powers to the EU without the British people's permission in a referendum".

Is this hot air? Is there rising concern that the UK is signing away their powers to the EU?

Here in the US there are concerns over the possibility of the NAU, so I am interested in seeing if this EU deal is striking concern as well.

Well, it's conference season and there are some very strong hints that a General Election may be just a few weeks away so the Conservatives are laying out their policies in the most dramatic way possible (more headlines/new coverage that way) to gain attention since it looks like it's make or break for David Cameron.

As for the treaty itself, I honestly can't tell you what it does and does not say (nor can 99.9% of the rest of the UK population but many think they're experts on the subject... British people have an innate suspicion of all things European, given that we've been rivals for the best part of a thousand years or so ) because I haven't read it and the press/political parties say different things every week. When I get the chance I'm hoping to at least skim over the treaty and see what it's all about.

[edit on 2/10/07 by Ste2652]

There's a lot of fuss atm with some claiming a general election is happening next month.
Personally I don't see the need for one or that it makes any political sense......next summer (after the 2008 budget) is a different matter tho, I'd say all bets are off.

IMO this is just Hague & the tory party appealing to their core vote.....and given the lack of detailed coverage of this it's pretty quiet too, they know the best and quickest way to turn the public off the tory party is to go nuts about 'Europe' again.
(although personally I suspect they are just as loopy about it as they ever were, they've just learned to keep it a little quieter)

Hague in particular ought to know all about what a disastrous mirage the standard tory idea of the British public being one huge seething mass of anti-EU voters just itching to elect anyone 'anti EU' enough.
It was rubbish in 2001, 2005 and it'll be rubbish when we go to the polls next time too.

reply to post by sminkeypinkey



Thanks for the info!

It appears that politicians who like to sensationalize issues to scare up possible votes, (or to get some media coverage) isn't just a problem here in the US.



BTW, I helped out a citizen from the UK today,

It seems he got lost and came down to the end of a 14 mile gravel road towards my place.

He realized (too late) that this was a dead end and also that his fuel gauge was reading E ...

He asked where the closest gas (petrol) station was and I told him 16 miles

He freaked out, I let him, but only for a moment.

I put a couple of gallons in his tank, and while doing this he said he was afraid this might be a Deiverance moment.

I told him that we don't act like that around here, but I reminded him that I wasn't sure about a few pepole he may pass on the way out.

What does this have to do with the subject of this thread?

Nothing, I just needed to put this somewhere for posterity..

Thanks again for your info sminkey!!!

Sminkey has this pretty much nailed on and, as he says, it is more than slightly amusing to watch the Tories angst over whether to try to attack Labour over the matter of a European referendum knowing that it sells lots of right wing tabloids but consistently fails to win elections; for Hague as leader amongst others.

However, there is some merit in the point he makes which is that the revised, and much slimmer, treaty is actually disarmingly similar to the original constitution document for which a referendum was rightly promised.

Unfortunately he spoils the image of the Tories holding the moral high ground on this issue by omitting to mention that it was a Conservative Government which handed over more power to Europe than any other without a referendum by signing up to the Maastricht treaty. The point being that Maastricht, like the new treaty was essential for the Union to operate effectively and efficiently.