March 17 2014

The referendum is democracy in its purest form; everyone has a vote and the vote of everyone reading this column will be equal with that of your neighbour, your member of parliament or your prime minister.

It took just under a century for this country to move from only a handful of the population being able to determine who was to represent us in parliament to full equality for all adults. The 1832 Reform Act started the process that was completed in 1928 when the voting age for women was reduced from 30 to 21.

Of course it’s not possible to be holding votes month in month out and as a representative democracy we entrust most of those decisions to either our local or national politicians but for major decisions, particularly ones that divide parties,  the referendum is the most appropriate method of gaining the approval or rejection of the electorate.

Nothing is more important than determining the future direction of the country which is why there will be a referendum in Scotland to decide whether or not to leave the United Kingdom; a policy decided upon by the Coalition with Labour Party support.

Our membership of the European Union must surely be as big an issue as Scottish independence; after all it is an organisation with the aim of European political union – something I and a large number of voters oppose. It may or may not be a majority but the only way to test that is via a referendum.

Europe is a fault line that has run through the British body politic for more than forty years. If after the 1975 referendum there had been further referendum after each of the major treaties it is possible that we might still be EU members. I personally would regret that but the important thing is that as a country it would be with the consent of the British people. Until we repair that fault line it is an issue that will continue to divide the nation.

Last week’s policy statement by Ed Miliband leaves the Labour party policy in a complete muddle as witness headlines in different newspapers last Thursday morning. One announcing that it was Labour policy to hold an in/out referendum and another stating the exact opposite; something that was clearly the result of the Party trying to spin the same story in two opposite directions – what a joke.    

There is no way that the British people will be taken in by such blatant doublespeak.

So why would anyone who favours the democratic process oppose a referendum on such is major issue; and we must assume that Mr Miliband and his colleagues are democrats. Could it be that they fear the people may disagree with them? Or perhaps they consider that we are unable to determine the direction in which our country goes over the next generation or two?

The Labour position is that the Scots have the right to determine their own future but not the British people as a whole.

In the 1975 referendum I campaigned for us to leave the Common Market as it was then called. Since then it has evolved into the European Union. Its aim of political union has always been there despite what politicians such as Wilson, Jenkins, Heath, & Callaghan said at the time. There is a perfectly honourable and reasoned argument in favour. It’s just one that I don’t happen to share but whichever side of the argument you are on it is a decision that should be for all of us. As I said at the start of this article a referendum is for all; David Cameron will have just one vote, and so will you. It seems reasonable to me but not to Ed and his Party.