Free Guinness

I Want A Referendum is organising a rally in support of the Irish No campaigners on 31st May:

At midday on Saturday 31 May we will be organising a short gathering outside the Irish Embassy in London (17 Grosvenor Place, closet tubes: Hyde Park Corner and Victoria). We will have a number of Irish, British and EU flags to hand out, so there will be no need for anyone to bring their own banners or flags. The aim is to send a message of solidarity to Irish voters, not to demonstrate about the denial of our referendum here in the UK. Free cans of Guinness will be available on a first-come-first-served basis.

If you would like to register for the event please email: Susannah@iwantareferendum.com

I'm not sure about interfering in another country's decision making process, but it is probably the only hope of the Constitution Lisbon Treaty being postponed.

I want a referendum

I have recieived this email which I will share in full although the information is also on their sites

Dear Supporter,

Hundreds of you have registered for the mass lobby of Parliament on Wednesday 27 February. But we need thousands of people to make it a real success.

If you can make it to London on Wednesday 27 February, anytime between 11am and 6pm, to tell your MP that you think there should be a referendum on the revised EU Constitution, then please do sign up now, by sending a quick email to lobby@iwantareferendum.com

Within a few days of the mass lobby, MPs will be voting on whether or not there should be a national referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Don't miss this last chance to persuade them to vote yes!

Remember: you don't have to be an expert - you just need to be willing to ask your MP a few questions. The main focus of the day will be a queue outside the Houses of Parliament, where we will be waving banners and balloons and generally creating a pro-referendum atmosphere that MPs and the Government will find impossible to ignore.

I Want a Referendum has published a short guide to the lobby, including suggested questions for your MP. Click here to read it: http://www.iwantareferendum.com/publication/lobbyguide.pdf

Getting to the lobby

Several of our supporters are organising coaches and lifts from various locations around the country. Please check the transport notice board for details of people who may be organising transport near you: http://www.iwantareferendum.com/lobbynoticeboard.aspx

In addition, we have organised for 4 double-decker coaches to come to London from around the country. There are 400 places available in total. Donations towards the £6,500 cost of the coaches would be very gratefully received during a collection on arrival in London.

Pick-up points and departure times:

Coach 1

Manchester - 07:00 - Chorlton Street Opposite the Main Coach Station
Birmingham - 09.00 - Hilton Park Services Jct 10 M6 Southbound JCT 10
Warwick - 10.00 - Warwick Services M40 Southbound
Oxford - 11.00 - Oxford Services M40 Southbound

Coach 2

Leeds - 06:50 - Leeds City Train Station
Sheffield - 08:00 - Woodall Services Southbound M1
Nottingham - 09:45 - Trowell Services Southbound M1
Leicester - 10:15 - Leicester Forest East Southbound M1

Coach 3

Bournemouth - 08:30 - Bournemouth Train Station
Southampton - 09:30 - Southampton Train Station
Basingstoke - 10:30 - Basingstoke Train Station

Coach 4

Plymouth - 06:30 - Plymouth Train Station
Exeter - 07:30 - Exeter Services JCT 30 M5
Bristol - 08:45 - Gordano Services JCT 19 M5 Northbound
Swindon - 10:15 - Membury Services JCT 14 M4
Reading - 10:45 - Reading East Services JCT 11/12 M4

Please note these times are dependent on good weather and driving conditions. They are formulated with a view to arrive in London by approximately 1pm. The coaches will leave London again at 6pm from the same place you will be dropped off.

If you would like to use the coach please call the Coach Hire Booking company on 0845 0944 620, Monday to Friday, between 9am and 5pm to book a seat. Seats will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. When you call, please state that you are calling to book a place on the 'I Want a Referendum' coaches, specifying where you intend to board the coach. Please do not call unless you definitely intend to travel on the coach. And on the day, please make sure that you are at your pick-up point on time as the coaches will not be able to wait for you.

Unfortunatelt I can't make it but please feel free to pass on this info to anyone you think might be intersted.

Lisbon Treaty Judicial Review

The Cynical Optimist is carrying this email, which is self explanatroy

"We are urgently preparing to seek Judicial Review and hopefully persuade the Courts to declare that the Lisbon Treaty, as signed by Blair and Brown and now being presented to Parliament for approval to ratify, is in conflict with our own extant Constitution and therefore it would be unlawful to accept the EU Constitution into British law.

One of the best and most respected younger QCs with a fearsome record, Rabinder Singh, has been engaged together with a very bright lady junior and we hope to launch proceedings in the High Court within the next two weeks. We are delighted that leading businessman Stuart Wheeler has taken up the case in his own name as plaintiff and agreed to bear responsibility for it through to the House of Lords if necessary.

Naturally we must do all we can to offset his public-spirited contribution - Friends and colleagues, members, supporters - every little counts and donations (non-charitable) should be sent to 'CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE',

c/o This England PO Box 52, Cheltenham, Glos GL50 1YQ.

However my immediate request is to ask each of you to jot down any points, clauses, articles in the Lisbon Treaty to which you object and why, and list them under their treaty references, and then send your list to me on my john.gouriet1@virgin.net address as soon as you possibly can. This would be an enormous help as we are under a very tight schedule to brief counsel and get the case into court before Parliament complete the betrayal, but it would be a terrific feat if we can put a cast iron stick in their wheel, even at this late hour!"

First piece of political activism

Only a small start but after years of sitting on the sidelines I've decided to get off my backside and do something. This bunch of cretins that pass for a Government have got me so incensed (see this post) that today I made a donation to



I know that technically I didn't get off my backside to do this but you know what I mean.

Next step will be to get involved with them I suppose, if I can work out some free time

Lisbon Treaty Referendum - No Alternatives

I was listening to the debate on whether we should have a referendum on the EU Constitution Lisbon Treaty on Radio 5 this morning and it set me thinking about whether there we any alternatives that might be acceptable.

As you will see from the sidebar, I support calls for a referendum, but only because New Labour made this a manifesto commitment and we should hold our politicians to account on manifesto commitments. I know their argument is that this isn't a constitution but there is enough of a body of opinion, some of it from the pro EU lobby, that it is as close as makes no difference. And now, according to this report in the Telegraph our own foreign affairs select committee say the same:

As the Government prepares to debate the treaty in the House of Commons, a report by the foreign affairs select committee concludes that it cedes vital powers to Brussels and that ministers are misleading the public by saying that it does not.

During the debate this morning many arguments were made against holding the referendum:

That we have a representative parliamentary democracy and that referendums aren't part of our heritage - This may be true, and one that I generally support, but this case is different as I outline above. Furthermore, heritage has to start at some point so I don't have a problem with setting new precedents. I also have a problem with the size of the government payroll vote which is leading more and more to an elected dictatorship.

The people aren't capable of understanding the question – What a condescending argument. We could be trusted in 1975 so why not now? Anyone putting this argument forward should be taken outside and shot. I won't dwell on this one as it is bad for my stress levels.

That those asking for a referendum on the treaty are really pushing for a referendum on leaving the EU – (This was put forward by their pro EU speaker this morning) So what? That is for those phrasing the question and organising the referendum, not a reason against the referendum in principle.

That the rest of the EU will not accept a no vote as the other 26 countries are al for it – Well that's their problem not ours and if they don't like it then throw us out. Indeed if this is the case then it is even more important that we have a referendum to show that we will not be bullied in to signing the treaty.

Anyway, as I listened to these arguments, especially the representative democracy one, I got to thinking about alternatives and wondered if a free vote for MP's might work. Unlikely, because of the bullying nature of Brown and his acolytes and the payroll vote.

So how about really setting a precedent and have a secret free vote for MP's? This might work except it goes against the principle of knowing what our representatives get up to with their voting. Anyway I can't see this bunch of bullies allowing that.

So I conclude that their isn't an alternative to a referendum on this important subject, so I ask you to get across to I Want A Referendum and sign their petition, no matter which way you intend to vote, we have to hold our politicians to their manifesto pledges.