Please note - this is NOT a thread about whether we should leave the EU. That's a completely different question. This is about whether there should be a referendum.
Cameron is due, shortly, to make a speech about his position on the EU question, and whether or not we get a vote is part of that.
Personally, my view is that yes, we should get a referendum, and for several reasons.
First, there's the utterly pragmatic. Other EU countries, like Germany, aren't happy with the UK sitting on the egdes and moaning. Well, until we, the people, get a say in it, that is not going to change. The ONLY way the UK is EVER going to be a full, willing, participant, is if government have a clear mandate from the people. Otherwise, the issue will remain devisive. If other EU states want a change in the UK stance, we either need to be fully in, or fully out, or at the least, have a negotiated position, then they ought to be backing a UK referendum.
Part of the reason for that is that we, the people, have NEVER been given a say on membership of the EU. The only say we got, 40-odd years ago, was about the Common Market, and the EU is a very different beast. Nor do subsequent general elections count, as they are abour far, FAR more than the EU, like taxation, welfare, education, police and crime and, dare I say it, yes, the economy.
If we have a proper, genuine vote, not the deceitful conjuring trick that Ted Heath and Harold Wilson lied to us about last time, then either we vote yes and those opposed will have to accept that it's thewill of tbe people, or we vote no and those in favour will have to accept that that is the will of the people.
Either way, we will have a far more settled position though, no doubt, some on both sides will never accept not getting their way, whatever the result. But government can then point to that democratic mandate and ignore whichever group end up moaning.
The only argument I can see for not holding a referendum and finally settling this question is that government don't trust us to give the answer they want. Aren't we lucky to have such a democracy.
So come on, Cameron, get off your butt and give the people a voice. Or put up with this issue carrying on being hugely devisive. There is NO other way to resolve it.


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