Representative Democracy and Referendums

We have been told that the Lisbon Treaty is not the same as the earlier Proposed Constitution. On this Gordon Bottler is at odds with most European leaders, who, with most experts who have read the documents, say they are "as near as dammit" the same, although wording has changed (to confuse?)

Brown has done this to avoid a considerable defeat in a referendum and even greater problems with his counterparts in Europe.

A further argument has been raised, that we have a system of representative democracy which is incompatible with referendums. In our system the candidate parties present their manifestos for approval, and expect to be trusted by the electorate to implement the declared policies.(This argument leaves out the fact that new policies are dredged in and some manifesto promises ignored, including the promise of a referendum.) The message is thus, "Trust us until the next election to do what is best...."

In fact we have had only one referendum nationally on Europe, under Harold Wilson, who may have expected to defeat the process of further integration. (The proposals to devolve power to assemblies in Scotland and Wales were not voted upon in a referendum in England - the West Lothian problem again?) It seems that Labour and Nulabour will hold them only when they expect to win or gain. The fact is that Harold Wilson did not feel a referendum to be to be incompatible with representative democracy.

There is a further argument why they are compatible. We have a tradition that no Government is able to bind its successors, that is that a successor Government must have the power to reverse policies. With so much of the integration process proposed and manipulated in the un-democratic and un-accountable European system, this argument surely acquires greater and greater force. For the Conservatives to try to claw back what Blair has conceded would be well nigh impossible. Cameron and many colleagues would be faced with the alternatives - "accept the concessions made by Nulabour or else leave the Union". Neither is attractive to a large number of Conservatives.

This is blackmail, of course. It exists because of the nature of the unreformed and undemocratic nature of the EU, but if the British Government wants to resist in order to avoid the opprobrium about to be heaped on Ireland, they should leave it to the British people.

Is there anything more democratic than asking all people to vote on a simple issue rather than on an involved general election manifesto where you may have to accept all proposals, including some about which you may have considerable reservations or even opposition.