PC 6: Let the People Vote?

[Sir Tristan St. John]

The government isn't fooling anyone with their tests: they've long since decided they could do without the pound, and the tests are a convenient excuse to wait for a moment until the time seems right. We owe it to the British people to call it like we see it, and force the government to drop the charade. If Labour won't rule it out, they need to have the political courage to put it to a referendum and let the British people reject the political euro project. Our message is this: stop hedging and listen to the people, one way or the other. We're ready to bind their hands through legislation to ask and respect the will of the people if that's what it takes.

[Will Frost]

The Prime Minister has conceded to exactly what the Shadow Chancellor is arguing. Mary MacAndrews has admitted it is simply a matter of time until Labour proposes we adopt the euro, making it more important than ever that the British people can weigh in now on this critical issue. Despite refusing to answer the question I posed to her in Parliament, yet having all the time in the world to make comments to the press, it is increasingly clear that there is only one possibility Labour is preparing for: adopting the single currency. It's not a matter of if Labour will push us into the euro, it's when. Their excuses for not holding a referendum are getting thinner and thinner, and the reality that they're only interested in analyzing the politics of the issue has become crystal clear.

The Conservatives do not fear the British people having control over their democracy. Neither should the Government.

[Sir Tristan St. John]

As Cicero would have said: Quousque tandem abutere, minister primus, patienta nostra? When will this Prime Minister cease abusing our patience? She has admitted that she wants to do away with the pound eventually. This confirms what I have known and what we have said all along: the euro is a political project the government is fully committed to, the only question is when they can sell it. They need to be honest with the public and ask their blessing. It gives me no joy to say we were right all along. Unless we tie their hands, they might perform some spinning sleight-of-hand and muddle the British people into the euro against their will. I will not let that happen, and neither will Will Croft and the Conservative Party. That's why the British people need to get a referendum so they can make their will clear and reject this unhallowed agenda to replace our proud currency.

[Sir Jack Anderson]

The Prime Minister has not said that it is an inevitability that Britain would adopt the euro. If that is the case, the Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Chancellor should be able to provide definitive proof this has been said.

Because I know what has been said: that the Shadow Chancellor would resign if the Conservatives proposed a referendum. He's contradicted Conservative Party policy not once, but twice, now. And yet he's still here. The Shadow Chancellor's word, I'm afraid, seems rather thin: and so is his commitment to the pound. Thankfully, Labour's commitment to sensible economic management and action remains steadfast.

[Sir Dylan Macmillan]

Labour's commitment to economic management is so paper thin that they would prepare our economy to join the Euro when the country hasn't even decided whether or not to join the Euro yet. This course of action risks not only influencing the result of the referendum but wasting many years of economic policy which may or may not be required at untold and unknown cost to the taxpayer. The only logical path of progression here is to have a referendum on joining the Euro and then if, and only if, the people opt to join should we undertake the lengthy (and costly) steps necessary to prepare the UK economy to join the Single Currency at some point in the ensuing decade or more.

[Will Frost]

In an answer to a question posed by the Shadow Chancellor, the Chancellor has just confirmed that he does not believe the conditions will be met for Britain to join the euro for the, "duration of this Parliament." If that is the case, if the economic indicators and tests are unlikely to radically change over the next 4 years, than that is all the more reason to give the British people a vote on whether or not they want to join. If the Chancellor does not believe Britain will pass their self-prescribed 5 tests over the life of this Parliament, then his boss the Prime Minister should either rule out joining now, or send the decision to the people via a referendum. No more waiting, no more delaying, put the question before the people or rule out adoption altogether.

[Will Frost]

The Prime Minister says the Government is pursuing the euro, but won't give us a timeline. The Chancellor then announced that the single currency probably wouldn't happen for the duration of this Parliament. No one in the Government has any idea what's going on, and as a result the British people are left hanging. If we leave it up the New Labour economists, tinkering with tests designed by those who support the euro, we will be in an endless period of delay and uncertainty as to what our economic future holds. The only way to break the deadlock, to put the issue behind us, and to firmly establish the sort of nation Britain intends to be in the 21st century is by empowering the British people to choose their own future. Our people don't need a set of economic tests, designed by those who want to surrender the pound, to tell them how to vote. They can make up their own mind, and choose what's right for our future as a sovereign nation.

The politicians have bungled this issue beyond belief. Let the British people clean up New Labour's mess.

[CWard]

The Prime Minister and Chancellor have given United answers on this issue and the Leader of the Opposition knows that

[Sir Dylan Macmillan]

Let us not forget it was heavily trailed in the media that it was Labour policy to have the Euro referendum in 2002, 2003 at the latest, because having it later would put their third election in a row at risk. Don't let Labour pretend that their opposition to a Euro Referendum now is principled, they merely do not wish to be seen to be agreeing with the Conservative Party and they don't want to risk their attempts to win a third election in a row to do something menial like "letting the people have their say". Labour really should stop wasting resources, stop playing politics with our currency, and stop ignoring the people on the most important issue this country has faced in decades.

[John Baker]

The fourth test has been completely met. The third and fifth tests have been met if the first two tests have been met. My question is how can you assume that growth, stability, employment, and investment would all increase after joining the Euro and decide that it isn't time to figure out if the British public wants the Euro, so that we can either work towards Euro membership or kill the issue completely. The treasury hedges with everything contingent on the two tests that are far to vague to be met any second before Labour is ready to try to force the Euro on the British People. Labour originally wanted to be holding a referendum on the Euro next year or the year after. Instead they are opposed because they are afraid a Euro referendum might cost them their majority. I have to say that the British economy and currency is more important than electoral politics and it's time to have the issue decided once and for all. Let the people vote. Labour will eventually move forward with the Euro, but it's time the British people get the say on what should the future of Britain be and it's time Labour stop trying to have their cake and eat it to on the Euro.