I cannot remember whether the right hon. Gentleman was at the heart of Government when the decision that he mentions was taken by the then Prime Minister, but I understand—I have heard this from several sources—that the then Foreign Secretary and the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, who is of course now Prime Minister, effectively forced the then Prime Minister into accepting a referendum on the grounds that the constitutional treaty had real implications for the sovereignty of this country and for voters. However, the European Scrutiny Committee has said that this treaty is substantially equivalent to the constitutional treaty. Does that not mean that this treaty should be subject to a referendum?
European Union (Amendment) Bill
Proceeding contribution from
William Cash
(Conservative)
in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 5 March 2008.
It occurred during Debate on bills
and
Committee of the Whole House (HC) on European Union (Amendment) Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
472 c1801;472 c1799 
Session
2007-08
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
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Timestamp
2023-12-16 00:42:54 +0000
URI
http://data.parliament.uk/pimsdata/hansard/CONTRIBUTION_452186
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