Post by shred on Sept 23, 2013 11:08:34 GMT -5
Veteran Labour former shadow cabinet member and
1992 party leadership contender Bryan Gould has urged
Ed Miliband to back an EU referendum.
His intervention comes amid growing calls from senior Labour figures past and present for Ed Miliband to
pledge to give people a say on Britain’s future relationship
with the European Union.
Ed Miliband must “listen” to the people he wishes to represent and pledge to hold an in-out referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union, according to a veteran former Labour shadow cabinet member and party leadership contender.
Bryan Gould, a member of Neil Kinnock’s shadow cabinet from 1986-1992 and contender against John Smith for the leadership of the Labour party, urged Ed Miliband to “go with it” on an EU referendum and challenged the Labour leader to explain “what can go wrong?”.
Speaking at an event hosted by the People’s Pledge EU referendum campaign and Blackwell’s Books to introduce his new book Myths, Politicians and Money, Gould argued that a referendum vote would either resolve the issue for the “foreseeable future” or enable politicians to respond to public concerns about the EU by “securing a renegotiation of the arrangements, perhaps a departure from the European Union”.
Backing growing calls from senior Labour figures for the party leadership to back an EU referendum the former shadow chief secretary to the Treasury and trade and industry spokesman, who also directed Labour’s 1997 general election campaign, said “It is now nearly 40 years since the British people were asked what they thought of the particular arrangements represented by the then Treaty of Rome. We can now see that a project imposed by a small elite has not only failed to capture the allegiance of the people of Britain but has posed a major threat to the wellbeing of Europe as a whole.”
Questioning why his party appears “not prepared to listen” to people’s views on the EU, Gould said, “I urge the current leadership of the Labour party to go with it, to listen to the democratic voice and opinions of the people we claim to, and wish to, represent”.
Gould’s intervention, coming just ahead of Ed Miliband’s speech to the Labour conference, will add to the increasing pressure on the Labour leader from among his own team and former ministers to back an EU referendum.
Tom Watson MP, who recently stepped down as Miliband’s election co-ordinator, recently came out in support of an EU referendum in a newspaper article about his resignation. His call for Labour to promise people a say on Britain’s membership of the EU echoed similar calls by shadow work & pensons minister Ian Austin, Labour’s Policy Review chief John Cruddas and former shadow rural affairs minister Tom Harris.
blog.peoplespledge.org/2013/09/23/labour-veteran-urges-miliband-to-back-eu-vote/
Britain's membership of the EU costs £16.6bn per annum, we get back £6.9bn per annum of which £3.3bn is the annual rebate.
The calls for a referendum are growing.
What do you think of the proposed exit ? Will it harm Britain's relations with the USA ?
1992 party leadership contender Bryan Gould has urged
Ed Miliband to back an EU referendum.
His intervention comes amid growing calls from senior Labour figures past and present for Ed Miliband to
pledge to give people a say on Britain’s future relationship
with the European Union.
Ed Miliband must “listen” to the people he wishes to represent and pledge to hold an in-out referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union, according to a veteran former Labour shadow cabinet member and party leadership contender.
Bryan Gould, a member of Neil Kinnock’s shadow cabinet from 1986-1992 and contender against John Smith for the leadership of the Labour party, urged Ed Miliband to “go with it” on an EU referendum and challenged the Labour leader to explain “what can go wrong?”.
Speaking at an event hosted by the People’s Pledge EU referendum campaign and Blackwell’s Books to introduce his new book Myths, Politicians and Money, Gould argued that a referendum vote would either resolve the issue for the “foreseeable future” or enable politicians to respond to public concerns about the EU by “securing a renegotiation of the arrangements, perhaps a departure from the European Union”.
Backing growing calls from senior Labour figures for the party leadership to back an EU referendum the former shadow chief secretary to the Treasury and trade and industry spokesman, who also directed Labour’s 1997 general election campaign, said “It is now nearly 40 years since the British people were asked what they thought of the particular arrangements represented by the then Treaty of Rome. We can now see that a project imposed by a small elite has not only failed to capture the allegiance of the people of Britain but has posed a major threat to the wellbeing of Europe as a whole.”
Questioning why his party appears “not prepared to listen” to people’s views on the EU, Gould said, “I urge the current leadership of the Labour party to go with it, to listen to the democratic voice and opinions of the people we claim to, and wish to, represent”.
Gould’s intervention, coming just ahead of Ed Miliband’s speech to the Labour conference, will add to the increasing pressure on the Labour leader from among his own team and former ministers to back an EU referendum.
Tom Watson MP, who recently stepped down as Miliband’s election co-ordinator, recently came out in support of an EU referendum in a newspaper article about his resignation. His call for Labour to promise people a say on Britain’s membership of the EU echoed similar calls by shadow work & pensons minister Ian Austin, Labour’s Policy Review chief John Cruddas and former shadow rural affairs minister Tom Harris.
blog.peoplespledge.org/2013/09/23/labour-veteran-urges-miliband-to-back-eu-vote/
Britain's membership of the EU costs £16.6bn per annum, we get back £6.9bn per annum of which £3.3bn is the annual rebate.
The calls for a referendum are growing.
What do you think of the proposed exit ? Will it harm Britain's relations with the USA ?