Red referendum – Miliband should promise one too
Jonathan Lindsell, 13 May 2013
After a week of Tory grandees past and present declaring their willingness to take Britain out of the European Union, Ed Miliband has had an easy ride. The Labour leader has enjoyed the discomfort that the Conservative civil war is causing his opposite number, and will deride the upcoming protest vote against the Queen’s Speech as an indicator of a riven government, whatever the outcome. According to him, Cameron is “hiding behind the sofa”.
Miliband would do well to look to the guerrillas crouched menacingly behind his own furniture. Today sees the launch of Labour for a Referendum, a campaign group with the support of Keith Vaz, ex Europe Minister; John Mills, import-export entrepreneur; Kate Hoey, ex-Sports Minister; and Jim Dowd, former Northern Ireland spokesman. The website lists other supporters including actor Richard Wilson (I don’t believe it), Independent columnist Owen Jones and many other Labour backbenchers.
Whilst these figures do not equal the stature of Lawson, Portillo, Boris, Gove and Hammond, they’re certainly enough to give Ed pause for thought. His shadow chancellor continues to pinball about with fears that Labour will be ‘caricatured as the anti-referendum party’ and assurances that nothing has been ruled out.
Writing in the Guardian, Polly Toynbee makes the opposite case – “Labour must stand firm: no to a referendum on Europe”. Her argument purports to set out the case for denying the country a referendum, but for the most part is simply an erroneous list of reasons she personally would vote ‘In’ if given the chance. She uses the fallacies debunked elsewhere in this blog – that the banking and car industries would leave if Britain withdrew, that Britain needs EU membership to secure free trade with America, that EEA membership would be a disaster. In what pass for irony, she suggests that the UK’s human rights situation would quickly resemble that of Belarus.
Her only relevant point is that the next General Election represents a referendum-proxy, and anyone who wants to leave the EU should simply vote UKIP: Labour need offer no plebiscite.
Toynbee’s argument is stunning – she essentially calls upon voters to weigh their EU convictions against all other political concerns in the smug assumption that ‘other concerns’ will win out and give Labour a majority. Jon Cruddas MP, Labour’s policy coordinator, was more sanguine when he said, “If we do not have a real referendum then anger and resentment will grow. We have to be bold and let the people into this conversation.”
Civitas Director Dr David Green’s new book charts the erosion of British people’s sovereignty. Miliband has a simple choice – side with Toynbee and continue to deny the population a voice in constitutional and economic future, or offer the referendum his back-benchers are calling for.