WHY are so many people fed up of politicians now? One of the main reasons is that people don’t feel like they can trust politicians to do what they say.
It’s hard to think of a clearer example of politicians breaking their promises than the Government’s attempt to wriggle out of the promise to hold a referendum on the EU Constitution.
The reason the Government promised that we could have a vote is that the constitution would have meant a huge shift of power from the local level to Brussels.
Britain could be over-ruled on important decisions, such as how we run our NHS and public services, how we run our economy or the rights of criminals.
As well as being a big handover of control the Government promised us a say, because if Britain had signed up to the Constitution it would have been irreversible.
However, not long after the Government promised a referendum the Constitution was overwhelmingly rejected by French and Dutch voters in referendums.
Nearly two-thirds of people in Holland voted no. That should have been the end of the story, but it seems that the people who run the EU were not prepared to take no for an answer.
They simply changed the name of the Constitution to the Lisbon Treaty. Now our Government are trying to push it through and without giving us a referendum.
That in itself is pretty undemocratic. But in order to cover up what they are doing the Government have had to resort to all kinds of spin. Foreign Secretary David Miliband claims the Lisbon Treaty is “fundamentally different” to the Constitution.
But other EU leaders are more honest.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel admits: “The substance of the constitution is preserved.” The Spanish Prime Minister Jose Zapatero says: “We have not let a single substantial point of the Constitution go.’’
The overwhelming majority of people – among supporters of all the main parties – want a referendum. Some 83% of Labour voters want a referendum. But the Government don’t want to hold one because they think people would say “no”.