EU Constitution must have support of majority

The Daily Telegraph
Saturday 21st May 2005

SIR-We, the undersigned, believe that unless at least 50 per cent of those eligible to vote Yes to the question in the forthcoming referendum on the European Constitution, the Government should not proceed with the treaty (report, May 18)

To have a government elected by as little as 21-5 per cent of the electorate is one thing, but to change the whole basis of our nation’s constitutional settlement on less than a clear majority of all those eligible to vote is quite another.

Proceeding to adopt an alien constitution without an unequivocal mandate is totally unacceptable and can only, in the long run, lead to entirely avoidable trouble and strife.

For more than 300 years, the British have enjoyed the benefits of a peaceful and settled society. To abandon that happy state without a clear indication that it is the will of the majority of those on the electoral register would be wholly irresponsible and reckless in the extreme.

Christopher Gill
Hon Chairman
The Freedom Association
Neil Herron
People’s No Campaign
Ruth Lea
Centre for Policy Studies
Ian Milne
Global Britain
Robert Oulds
Bruges Group
Lord Stoddart of Swindon
Campaign for an Independent Britain