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Greatest threat since WW2
September 24, 2007
BRITAIN’S destiny is at stake today.
Gordon Brown is about to sign an EU Constitution that would change for ever the way we are governed.
Brown promised us a referendum in his campaign to become PM. Now he’s giving two fingers to Britain.
In 1940 Winston Churchill said of the Battle Of Britain: “Never was so much owed by so many to so few.”
Today The Sun launches a battle to win a referendum on the Constitution.
And we echo Churchill by declaring: Never have so few decided so much for so many.
Wake up Britain! Our proud nation faces the greatest threat as an independent sovereign state since the dark days of World War II.
We won that titanic struggle against the roaring guns of Nazi Germany.
But we risk losing an equally crucial battle without a shot fired or a voice raised.
Unless we start that fight today, Gordon Brown will sign and ratify the EU Constitution — the blueprint for a United States of Europe — within weeks.
We will no longer have control over relations with other countries, the defence of our nation or the right to run our own police and law courts.
This takeover bid will consign Britain to a bit part in a 27-nation federal state permanently governed from Brussels by unelected officials and unaccountable politicians.
Centuries of parliamentary democracy will be consigned to history.
And, disgracefully, that irreversible decision will be made by a tame Parliament utterly out of tune with its voters.
The Labour government’s record on the loathed Constitution is one of promises made — and promises broken.
It is the final link in a chain of deception by both Labour and Tory governments over the steady erosion of Westminster power.
Unless we act now, we will lose our last chance to have our say as a nation state in a referendum.
Once the Constitution — masquerading as a harmless-sounding Reform Treaty — is signed, the moment will be gone forever.
This woolly and contradictory document was devised behind closed doors in 2004 to govern a region which has grown from six states to a cumbersome 27 today.
Europe would have had its own president, flag, anthem and, eventually, its own foreign minister and defence force.
The grandiose aims were stopped in their tracks in 2005 by sensational NO votes in French and Dutch referendums.
But far from accepting the result and abandoning their dream of a federal superstate, EU leaders waited a couple of years before bringing back the same proposals under its new title.
Powerful players such as France, Germany and Italy openly admitted the Constitution was the final brick in the wall of a European superstate.
Only Britain, under Tony Blair, pretended it was merely a “tidying-up exercise”.
Voters called his bluff — and demanded a say before any move to change the way we are governed.
Fearing a 2005 election backlash, Mr Blair caved in and offered a referendum before the Constitution could become legally binding.
Labour’s election manifesto — rubber stamped by Gordon Brown — left no room for doubt: “We will put it to the British people in a referendum and campaign wholeheartedly for a Yes vote.”
For good measure, Mr Blair added: “In the end, the final say will be with the British people in a referendum.”
Labour won the election, only to be let off the hook when French and Dutch voters flatly rejected the Constitution a few weeks later.
But in a gesture of contempt to its own voters, the EU simply waited before peddling old wine under a new label.
EU President Jose Barroso arrogantly warned the people of Europe to “go on voting until they get it right”. Mr Blair, for a moment, thought otherwise.
He said: “You can’t have a rejection of the treaty and then just bring it back with a few amendments and say we will have another go.”
But that’s precisely what he did.
EU leaders changed its name from “Constitution” to “Reform Treaty”, dropped the flag and a national anthem and tweaked the controversial EU foreign minister’s title to “High Representative”.
But every key objective of the old Constitution remains intact. Plus, we lose dozens of vetoes over key decisions.
Britain’s “hard-fought” red lines, allegedly protecting our right to determine our own tax, welfare and foreign policy, are virtually identical to the ones we negotiated last time — on which a referendum was promised.
The red lines are a smokescreen which puts the “con” into Constitution.
Each one represents a defeat for Mr Blair who fought to keep the proposals out of the Constitution altogether.
Over time, Britain will inevitably face challenges in the all-powerful European Court — and will inevitably be defeated.
We will lose control over our courts, police and welfare policy.
We will wave goodbye to our top seat at the UN — and our sole right to decide when to defend the nation.
All such decisions will need to be cleared by Brussels and enforced by unaccountable judges.
The new treaty is a triumph of EU “diplomacy”. And Britain has been outgunned. Gloating EU leaders cannot conceal their triumph.
“The substance of the Constitution is preserved. That is a fact,” said jubilant German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Spanish PM Jose Zapatero crowed: “We have not let a single substantial point of the constitutional treaty go. It is much more than a treaty.
“This is a project of foundational character, a treaty for a new Europe.”
Proud author Valery Giscard d’Estaing boasted: “In terms of content, the proposals remain largely unchanged, they are simply presented in a different way.”
Yet before quitting as PM, Tony Blair turned turtle and dismissed calls for a referendum as “completely and utterly absurd”.
Gordon Brown has a proud record for standing up to pressure from Brussels. He rejected calls for tax harmonisation which would have handed the EU control over Treasury revenue decisions.
And, to his lasting credit, he refused point blank to swap the Pound for the Euro.
That decision underpinned a period of unbroken UK economic growth which has endured for an astonishing 15 years.
While campaigning for his job, Gordon Brown vowed to honour the 2005 election pledge he helped mastermind.
“The manifesto is what we put to the public,” he told the BBC during his leadership campaign in June.
“We’ve got to honour that manifesto. That is an issue of trust for me with the electorate.” Once in Number Ten, Mr Brown changed his mind.
He insists the new treaty is different to the original Constitution — despite boasts from other EU leaders that they are one and the same.
Mr Brown’s stance is at odds with just about everybody outside his own Cabinet.
A Sun poll shows 81 per cent of voters think this is an issue of such importance that the people must be given a say.
Two-out-three don’t want more power for Brussels. The issue unites members of all parties. Every newspaper is in favour of a vote.
This is not an issue of IN or OUT. That’s a bluff.
Even EU supporters who would campaign for a Yes vote, such as ex-Europe minister Keith Vaz and The Sun’s own Jeremy Clarkson, want us to have a say.
The TUC has just voted for a referendum — even though many members think the treaty doesn’t go far enough.
Scores of Labour MPs and trade union leaders are preparing to march in protest against their own leaders and vote against the treaty in Parliament.
According to one poll, one-in-four Labour voters will desert the party if Mr Brown fails to deliver his pledge.
The Sun is committed to this battle for democracy.
We declare today that we will fight this cause on behalf of ALL our readers — right up to the next election.
