Campaign to Reject the European Commission

Here are some typical questions we have had from members of the public during our campaign - and our responses to them :-

I found your postcard in my local shop and I would just like to ask a few questions…

1. According to E.U. supporters, Britain doesn’t have a Constitution

REPLY: There are entire, lengthy books written on the British Constitution. Try ‘Dicey’ for example - your public library will tell you where you can see a copy.

We have a Constitution that has been steadily and carefully built up since Alfred the Great codified English criminal and civil law about 1,150 years ago. We have Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights.

We have had a Parliament to make our laws since 1274. Incidentally, did you know that Members of the European Parliament are not allowed to propose any new laws; only the unelected European Commissioners have the power to do that.

We have our thousand-year-old common law and our ‘common law rights’ which the Courts enforce. We have thousands of written-down laws. We have our Bill of Rights and Declaration of Rights 1688/9 - which determined that we should henceforth be an independent country - and protected and enshrined our historic liberties and rights. All of these are an integral part of our Constitution.

The short ‘American Constitution’ is not so much a constitution as a simple declaration of key rights and principles.

There certainly is a British Constitution, and much of it is being undermined or removed since we joined the E.U.

For example, until 1 January 1973, we had the right in the U.K. to make our own laws.

Since we joined the Common Market, now the E.U., we don’t have that right any more. We want that right back.

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2. With the recent turn-out of voters in both E.U. and British elections being very low, do you really think people are going to bother voting on a referendum?

REPLY: Yes. There was a big turn-out, for example, when the people of the North-East were asked (back in 2004) to vote for the government’s proposals to set up an elected regional assembly in the North East.

Unfortunately for the government, and fortunately for us, the people turned out in large numbers and voted down the proposals by a massive 78% to 22%.

Look at the example of Switzerland.

The people vote in about a dozen referendums a year, usually on the same date.

They turn out in huge numbers because under the Swiss constitution they can directly vote for and against the policies they want and don’t want.
That way, the people are in charge in a way that we simply are not here in the U.K.

Huge numbers turned out in referendums in France and Holland to vote down the European Constitution, back in 2005, the French by 57% to 43% and the Dutch by 63% to 37%. This was ‘people power’ at work. Or that is what they thought. Since then, the political elite of Europe simply renamed the European Constitution as the ‘E.U. Reform Treaty’ (Lisbon Treaty).
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3. Exactly what do you want from the European Union?

REPLY: Most of us in CREC think we’d be better off outside the E.U. Like those highly prosperous, independent countries, Norway, Switzerland and Iceland.

We have a national debt of hundreds of billions of pounds.
Norway has a surplus of £80 billion! We don’t need the E.U. to prosper as a nation.

All we want now is the three political parties to deliver on their election promise to give us a referendum on the European Constitution.

The new E.U. Reform Treaty, or ‘Lisbon Treaty’, is simply the European Constitution under another name, as virtually every European politician admits.

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4. What political ideology do you follow? - and are you connected to any political party?

REPLY:  We simply believe that our country should be independent.

We believe political parties should honour their manifesto promises.

We believe the people should have a direct say by way of a referendum on the most important issues of the day.

We believe strongly in free speech, true democratic rights, and a fair and tolerant society.

We want to be run by people we can vote out of office at least every 5 years and not by unelected Euro Commissioners.

We are not connected to any political party.