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European Union (Amendment) Bill

I am not talking about the bureaucracy of the European Union, but about the wishes of the British people. That is, in essence, what the debate is about. The Europe achieved by the treaty of Lisbon is unacceptable to the British people; it crosses the dividing line. However big or small a step it is, we are moving into a new Europe where, as we have already heard, we will have a president, a foreign secretary, diplomats and all the trappings of what so many of the Europhiles in Europe want—the beginnings of a European state. If I am wrong about the treaty being unacceptable, why do the Government not ask the British people whether they believe it is unacceptable? If I am right—as I have every reason to believe that I am—the Government have no mandate to force through the treaty without any form of consultation with the British people, either in a general election or a referendum.