Lib Dems' U-turn on EU

Published on Thursday 13 September 2007 01:14

So the Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, now judges that there is no case for holding a public vote on the EU, unless the question is simply "in or out".

Fair enough, and he could certainly incorporate his new analysis in the Liberal Democrat manifesto for the next general election.

However the manifesto on which he was actually elected in 2005 took a different view, pledging a referendum on the constitutional treaty, even though that would not be an "in or out" question.

To depart from this clear promise of a referendum would mean that he, and all the other MPs who stood on that manifesto, were elected on false pretences. And to offer such a self-evidently specious excuse only adds insult to injury. No wonder the British people no longer trust their politicians.

(DR) D R COOPER, Belmont Park Avenue, Maidenhead, Berkshire

Many people will have been dismayed by the government's tawdry attempts to avoid honouring its election commitment to a referendum on the proposed EU treaty. Nobody seriously believes Tony Blair's "red lines" are anything but a disingenuous attempt to justify this.

This cynical and mendacious behaviour can only increase the already significant contempt among the public for the political system and those working in it.

B W FROST, Grange Terrace, Bo'ness, West Lothian