The email I sent to the Conservatives on Europe: “Since the ratification of

Comment on Reasons to Vote Conservative 2010 General Election by Sarah.

The email I sent to the Conservatives on Europe:

“Since the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and the subsequent reversal of a pledge on a Referendum, as there is no other stance on Europe I will now be transferring my vote to the UKIP. If the Conservative Party were to make a public cast-iron pledge on a “In or Out” Referendum you will have my vote once again.”

The response I got:

“I am writing on behalf of David Cameron to thank you for your e-mail about the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.

I am very sorry for the long delay in this reply. As you might understand, David has received an unusually large number of e-mails recently, and I am afraid it has taken longer than normal to reply to everyone.

We are grateful to you for getting in touch and for making us aware of your views. As you know, the Lisbon Treaty was signed by the President of the Czech Republic and the Treaty has now become European law.

David knows from the huge number of letters and emails that he has been receiving how much people resent the fact we cannot now have the referendum we were promised by the Government. We are also incredibly disappointed that our campaign for a referendum has come to an end. However, as David has made clear, this Treaty has now become part of European Union law. Holding a referendum here in Britain cannot change that.

David has always been clear that, if this situation came about, he would immediately set out how a Conservative Government would respond. So the day after the Lisbon Treaty received its final signature, David gave a key speech in London making clear our approach for the future.

As David explained, if we win the next election, our first step would be to prohibit, by law, the transfer of further areas of power to the EU without a referendum. Never again should it be possible for a British government to use a treaty to transfer further areas of power to the EU without the British people’s consent.

Second, we will introduce a United Kingdom Sovereignty Bill to make it clear that ultimate authority stays in this country, in our Parliament.

And third, we want to negotiate three specific guarantees with our European partners over powers that we believe should reside with Britain, not the EU. We will negotiate the return of Britain’s opt-out from social and employment legislation in those areas which have proved most damaging to our economy and public services. We also want a complete opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights. And we will negotiate for the return of powers in criminal justice to prevent EU judges gaining steadily greater control over our criminal justice system.

If David becomes Prime Minister, the British Government he will lead will be an active member of the European Union. Like every other Member State, we will fight our corner to advance our national interests. But our guiding principles will be that Britain’s interests are best served by a European Union that is an association of its member states – and that we must never allow Britain to slide into a federal Europe.

I do hope you feel reassured by the approach we have taken. You can find out more about our European policies by going to the following link from our website:

”

Negotiating is all well and good however, all the other members have to agree.