Is there anyone knowledgeable or devoted enough to tell me whether the quotes in this video are accurate and were genuine reflections the considered views of the speakers?
Because if they are, it shows that what a lot of us have been shouting for a long time is 100% true, and not the paranoid ranting that is it usually dismissed as being.
(H/T to Richard)
*shrugs*
ReplyDeleteThe point about the Bill of Rights is that if we decide to elect a Parliament to get us "out" of Europe we are free to do so at any time. Crikey, if South Sudan can vote on independence so can we!
As John Redwood keeps pointing out, people keep electing pro-EU MPs, how can anyone be surprised when they enact pro-EU policies?
True. Many struggle to find a credible anti-EU candidate to support, though. And sorry, UKIP are not credible as a possible party of government.
ReplyDeleteIt comes down, I think, to the state of our politics and the inflexibility of our system. UKIP (for example) will never be credible because they will never have a real chance of being part of the next government. Therefore they will never be subject to the discipline that comes from knowing they might be held to their utterances*, and the media know that they do not need to be covered with any degree of seriousness. So they remain undisciplined and unknown - as do all new parties.
So we are left, forever, with the old parties who all sit on a spectrum ranging from "The EU is a good thing" to "The EU is an utterly wonderful thing".
Back in the Maastrict days, when the existence of a formal mandate for the treaty was pointed out to me, I used to ask who I should have voted for in order to register my disapproval. I never received an answer.
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*in theory....
UKIP (for example) will never be credible because they will never have a real chance of being part of the next government. Therefore they will never be subject to the discipline that comes from knowing they might be held to their utterances*, and the media know that they do not need to be covered with any degree of seriousness.
ReplyDeleteA bit like the LDs then.... oh.
Absolutely!
ReplyDeleteThe realisation that they were going to be in government caused a huge surprise. I suspect the next election may be very different, AV or no AV. Suddenly coalition government is "on our menu" and will be thought about seriously, ahead of an election instead of afterwards.
A Con/UKIP coalition? UKIP support surging as people see them as a real contender & hence worth a vote, while LD support collapses as everyone realises that they don't agree with Nick, after all.
Or, Nick gets his way with AV, and finds that it is UKIP that is lets in as people vote Con/UKIP rather than Con/LD as he intended?
Just imagine that...