Opinion by Michael Fabricant MP.

CONSEQUENCE OF LISBON TREATY

Not satisfied with the first vote, when Ireland voted a resounding ?No?, the Republic has its second vote on the Lisbon Treaty on 2nd October. If they vote ?No? again, there will presumably be third and fourth votes until Europe gets its way. This is carrying ?We will not take no for an answer? to new giddying heights of absurdity and arrogance.

With Angela Merkel protecting GM automotive jobs in Germany while Gordon Brown can just wring his hands, the Lisbon Treaty has particular resonance in the West Midlands. Any action that Brown could have taken to preserve our remaining car manufacturing sector would be stripped away by this further step into European integration. Unilateral action ? such as the support of Jaguar-LandRover production in the midlands ? would be virtually impossible.

The most sickening betrayal comes not from Europe, but from Downing Street itself. Labour?s promise in its election manifesto to hold a referendum on whether to ratify this treaty has been calculatingly forgotten. Gordon Brown ? snubbed by President Obama ? knows he would be snubbed further by the British people.

And if Ireland votes ?Yes? on Friday? What happens then? Well, it is possible that the Czech Republic will hold out on ratifying Lisbon until after the next British election. They know that if the Conservatives win, there will be a referendum and Cameron, unlike Brown, will not renege on his promise.

So why should Britain say ?No? to this Treaty? It takes several further steps to a United States of Europe and shifts sovereignty away from Britain and to Brussels. How then will an effective British Prime Minister defend British jobs? An unelected EU President will control over 3,500 civil servants in Brussels; for the first time an EU Foreign Minister will be appointed and foreign policy will move to Brussels; the EU can unilaterally create further powers for itself at the expense of national governments without any future need for the agreement of those national governments; and national vetoes in 60 areas including energy, transport, employment law, and foreign affairs will all be abolished enabling Brussels to make these decisions over the heads of our elected Governments. And all this will be controlled by a body whose own auditors have refused for the last 14 years to certify their accounts because of corruption and incompetence.

When in the past Britain?s national economic interests have conflicted with those of mainland Europe, we have gone our own way. No longer under Lisbon. What then the price of manufacturing jobs in the West Midlands?