Vince Cable wrong on EU Referendum!

Liberal Democrat Leader and British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has been critical of the plans by Conservative Premier David Cameron for an in-out EU referendum, should Mr Cameron's party secure an outright majority at next year's general election.  That criticism was backed on March 7 by Clegg's cabinet and party colleague, Vince Cable.

I consider myself to have a fair bit of common ground with the Liberal Democrats, especially when it comes to Britain being part of the European Union.  However as previously stated in a post on September 30 2013, I do believe that the question of Britain's EU membership will at some point in the foreseeable future need to be put again to the British people!  The issue has moved on so many times over a couple of generations, and it is now a minority of the current British electorate who were actually eligible in 1975 to cast their vote in Britain's only previous referendum on Europe.  Therefore, I am very disappointed in the line taken a couple of days ago by the Business Secretary Vince Cable.

I feel a particular need to address what Mr Cable says when he speaks of business leaders informing him that referendum talk is deterring large scale investment into the UK.  Don't get me wrong, I am just like some ordinary Joe Bloggs on the ground- no Captain of Industry is likely to come and tell me directly that this talk of an EU referendum is deterring investment into the UK.  But an ordinary Joe Bloggs I may be, I can still broadly be aware that the British economy is slowly picking up from what has been a very deep recession.  Unless the Government in which Mr Cable is a part of is substantially fiddling the figures on various economic data, I believe Mr Cable is exaggerating this point!

The Liberal Democrats may well not be looking over their shoulders in the same way as the Conservatives at the potential threat posed by the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP).  But as an ordinary Joe Bloggs, I can say that some people who support centre-left parties like the Liberal Democrats and Labour, do also want out of Europe!  Surely that means it would be desirable to offer the eurosceptic voter the opportunity to have their say on the matter, which would in turn tell that eurosceptic voter that a vote for the Lib Dems will not necessarilly deny them a much needed say on a most crucial national issue.

After all, Mr Clegg and his party had been previously in favour of an in-out referendum.  This was ironically at a point prior to the 2010 general election, when both Labour and the Conservatives did not support this position.  The biggest hole in not supporting the in-out referendum is the challenge Clegg has made to UKIP Leader Nigel Farage in having a national TV debate on Europe.

ONLY A REFERENDUM CAN ULTIMATELY DETERMINE IF BRITAIN IS TO REMAIN AN EU MEMBER FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE.  IF THE MAJORITY DISAGREE WITH THE PRO-EUROPEAN VIEWS OF MYSELF AND MESSRS CLEGG AND CABLE, THEN THAT IS DEMOCRACY!  THE REAL UNCERTAINTY IS BY LEAVING THE ISSUE UNRESOLVED IN THE MINDS OF THE BRITISH PEOPLE.