The problem of public ignorance, part 1,

J Clive Matthews — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:29:44 +0100

I've already mentioned the Financial Times poll on whether the UK should hold a referendum on the EU reform treaty, conducted back in June, and noted that a decent majority of Europeans want the chance to vote on whatever treaty / constitution eventually emerges for the future of Europe. But that's not all it revealed.

In the UK, we've now got everyone from the full-on eurosceptic UKIP and the loosely eurosceptic Tories through to the pro-EU Liberal Democrats and europhile Young European Federalists, not to mention various Labour politicians from Keith Vaz to Tony Benn, all calling for a referendum. All are, most likely, hoping that the European public will back their own stance and therefore give them legitimacy. (Well, except the Tories, who are probably hoping that a British "no" vote under a Labour government would let them nicely off the hook, and avoid yet more splits like those seen during the 1990s...)

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open Democracy News Analysis - The problem of public ignorance, part 1, - Comments

The problem of public ignorance, part 1,