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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Thursday, May 16, 2013

114 Tories rebel against David Cameron and the EU



A Kick in the Teeth
114 Tories rejected their Prime Minister and voted in favour a referendum on the European Union
  • The British Conservative Party leadership (like the GOP leadership) thinks they know better than those lowly grassroots supporters of the party.
  • By listening to what the voters want the UKIP ran up 25% of the vote in county and unitary council elections winning nearly 150 seats while the Tories lost 335 seats.


Conservative Party British Prime Minister David Cameron's authority suffered a huge blow when more than 100 Conservative MPs defied him by voting for a referendum on the European Union.
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Britain moved closer to an in/out referendum as Nick Clegg told MPs: “It is a question of when, not if, because the rules [of the EU] are bound to change.” He believes one is inevitable because a new EU treaty will be needed to entrench eurozone reforms in the next few years.


Some 114 Tories rejected pressure from their whips by opposing the Coalition's legislative programme because it does not offer the public a vote on EU membership.

They backed an amendment to the Queen's Speech regretting the absence of a Referendum Bill. Although it was defeated by 277 votes to 130, it was the biggest backbench revolt on Europe since the 2010 election reports the UK Independent.

The Eurosceptics were delighted by their show of strength. They had feared the number of rebels could be reduced to about 60 after William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, appealed to Tory MPs at their weekly meeting to “put the other parties on the spot.”

Tory officials played down the revolt, insisting it was a free vote because the amendment was in line with party policy. But it was clear that Mr Cameron's decision to rush out a draft Referendum Bill on Tuesday had failed to quell the rebellion.

Douglas Alexander, the shadow Foreign Secretary, said: “This vote is a further devastating blow to the Prime Minister's authority. It demonstrates that David Cameron has managed to turn a Europe issue into a leadership issue. This is a Prime Minister who has lost control of the agenda and tonight lost control of his party.”


SHOCK
The UKIP won elections by listening to what the voters wanted.


A very happy UKIP Leader Nigel Farage

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