SIGN THE PEOPLE’S PLEDGE

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: november/december 2011 :: RMTnews 23 I was among around 2,000 people that attended the cross- party People’s Pledge Congress last month in London to demand a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union. Interest in the issue was heightened by the fact that a non-binding vote on a referendum took place in the House of Commons just days later. The motion was defeated by 483 votes to 111, after the political establishment united against it and all Tory, Lib Dem and Labour MPs had been instructed in a three-line whip to oppose it. However it was the largest rebellion against Coalition government since it came to power. The audience at the People’s Pledge Congress had been warned this might happen as it was clear that the political class was determined to stop such a vote which polls show that an overwhelming majority of Labour voters support. Among the Labour MPs to address Congress was the Europhile campaigner Keith Vaz MP, who surprisingly supports such a referendum because the “European project needs a new mandate”. Labour MPs Kate Hoey, Kelvin Hopkins and Graham Stringer, a former government whip, all put forward far more EU critical reasons to give the people a voice. Mr Stringer said that Labour leader Ed Miliband had made a “mistake” by subjecting the party to a three-line whip on the vote. “I think there should be a referendum and I think when people have been asked for a petition and there is a very moderate motion down, there can’t be any opposition in principle to having a referendum,” he said. Kelvin Hopkins insisted that he would demand a referendum because of the damage inflicted on the country by EU common fisheries and agricultural policies as well as the economic crisis caused by the euro. “The fact is that ordinary working people are paying the price for the failure of the Euro zone, and Greece and other countries must be allowed to leave the Euro in order to devalue their currencies,” he said. RMT president Alex Gordon warned the audience in a well- received speech that the EU was negotiating secretive trade agreements which would allow big business to bring in cheap labour, undermining jobs and services. “Mode 4 is the trade concession that allows transnational corporations to move workers across borders to cash in on the wage difference between countries,” he said. He said that TUC delegates had backed an RMT union motion to oppose the EU/India Free Trade Agreement, an agreement that is also strongly contested in India for the increased economic disparity and disadvantage it will create there. “It is clear we need public information on the secret EU external trade agenda and we also need a referendum on EU membership,” he said. Green Party candidate for London mayor and Assembly member Jenny Jones said she was prepared to “be a rogue” by demanding a referendum. Also speaking was Patricia McKenna, former Green MEP for the Irish Republic, which had been forced to vote again on the EU constitution, renamed the Lisbon Treaty, after it had already been rejected by Irish voters. She explained how the establishment and the media threw millions of Euros at the campaign targeting those sectors in society that had voted No in order to secure a Yes vote in the rerun. “The media even invited French fascist leader Jean-Marie Le Pen to Ireland in order to undermine the No campaign and attempt to identify it with the extreme right. “Westminster politicians are fond of talking about people of other countries not having a say in the future of their countries yet now they do all that they can to deny British voters the right to voice their opinion,” she said. For more information visit www.peoplespledge.org Sign the People’s Pledge Former RMT president Tony Donaghey reports from the People’s Pledge Congress to demand a referendum on Britain’s EU membership Tony Donaghey