Changing the nation?

Changing the nation?

Though in their manifestos for the 2005 general election, all three political parties had promised a referendum on the European Constitution, yet the voters were given no say as, in March, Parliament adopted a document which is 90% the same.

William Hague for the Tories spoke of yet more powers going to Brussels. Labour rebel Frank Field said that this kind of thing leads to a real ‘falling out of love with democracy’. The present government came to power with only 31% of electorate behind them, and now clear promises made to voters had simply been ignored.

Whatever we think of all this, the truth is that if the government had allowed a referendum they would have lost. The country is split on the matter. But it is not just on Europe that there is no shared vision. It is becoming increasingly obvious that there is no shared vision in our land on many issues. The furore, which arose concerning servicemen and servicewomen in uniform being jeered in Peterborough by sections of the population who are against our military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, tells the same story.