United Kingdom European Constitution referendum

Last updated December 31, 2024

A referendum was expected to take place in the United Kingdom in 2006 to decide whether the country should ratify the proposed Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. However, following the rejection of the Constitution by similar referendums in France in May 2005 and the Netherlands in June 2005, the UK vote was postponed indefinitely. The question was thought to have been settled when the constitution was superseded by the Treaty of Lisbon, which Parliament ratified in 2008 without holding a referendum.

Announcement

As negotiations finalising the text of the proposed constitution drew to a close in early 2004, Prime Minister, Tony Blair, had consistently denied the need for a referendum on its ratification.^[1] However, on 20 April 2004, he announced in the House of Commons that a referendum would in fact be held in due course assuming the treaty was accepted by the European Council.^[2]

Initial reaction amongst the opposition was three-fold. Firstly, the Conservatives were pleased as they felt they had forced Tony Blair into a U-turn. For example, Michael Howard, the Leader of the Opposition, said "Who will ever trust you again?" in his response to Blair's statement.^[3] In response, opponents of Howard have said that he himself has done a U-turn by asking for a referendum at all. Howard was a member of the Conservative Government that rejected calls for a referendum on the Maastricht Treaty in 1993. This treaty conferred many new competences on the Union, something that the proposed constitution did not do; this led some commentators to argue that it was inconsistent to demand a referendum on the constitutional treaty when one was not held on the Maastricht Treaty.^{[ citation needed ]}

Secondly, the Conservative Party repeated its opposition to such a constitution which it saw as involving an unacceptable loss of sovereignty (See Controversy over the new constitution).

The Conservatives also wanted to know about the timing of the referendum and the precise wording of its question. Commentators expected that a referendum would not be held until after the 2005 general election. They suggested that the Labour Party would seek to minimise the impact of the issue of Europe on the election campaign by saying "we can discuss that at the referendum".^{[ citation needed ]}

Supporters of the Government said^{[ citation needed ]} that a referendum could only be held after sufficient parliamentary time had been devoted to analysing the text, thus forcing a delay until after the election. The Conservatives rejected this,^{[ citation needed ]} saying that sufficient scrutiny could be given, and a referendum held, in the autumn and winter of 2004.

The Conservatives also suggested^{[ citation needed ]} that if the Treaty were rejected, the Blair government would repeat the referendum until it got its desired result. In the days after the announcement of the vote, government policy was not immediately clear on this issue: it initially said^{[ citation needed ]} that the UK would then be in the same position as Ireland was after it rejected the Nice treaty. Ireland subsequently adopted that treaty after a second referendum, suggesting that Britain might attempt to do the same. Denmark also held two referendums before accepting the Maastricht Treaty.

However, at his usual monthly news conference on 22 April, Blair said: "If the British people vote 'no', they vote 'no'. You can't keep bringing it back until they vote 'yes'."^{[ citation needed ]} BBC Radio 4 and The Times subsequently reported^{[ citation needed ]} some back-tracking on this issue from "Number 10" (presumably the press office).

Proposed referendum question

The proposed referendum question was included in Part 3 of the European Union Bill 2004–2005. The question to appear on ballot papers would have been as follows:

Should the United Kingdom approve the Treaty establishing a Constitution for the European Union?

and in Welsh:

A ddylai’r Deyrnas Unedig dderbyn y Cytuniad a fyddai’n sefydlu Cyfansoddiad i’r Undeb Ewropeaidd?

permitting a simple YES/NO answer

Preparations

Following the agreement of the final constitution draft, Blair announced his full support for it,^{[ citation needed ]} claiming that it protected the national veto on sensitive issues such as tax, social policy, defence and foreign policy.

On 29 October 2004, the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw ruled out holding a referendum in 2005 as this would have coincided with the UK holding the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.^[4] He said that the referendum would be held in early 2006, providing Labour were re-elected in the 2005 general election.

A bill authorising the referendum was announced in the Queen's Speech of 23 November 2004 and was introduced to Parliament in January 2005 as the European Union Bill 2005.^[5]

On 26 January 2005 the government announced that the question asked in the referendum would be: "Should the United Kingdom approve the treaty establishing a constitution for the European Union?"^{[ citation needed ]} Theresa May, Shadow Secretary of State for the Family, described the question as "fair".^{[ citation needed ]}

Electoral Commission rules

The rules governing how British referendums are held were determined by the Electoral Commission. The commission was to judge whether the question asked was clear and unbiased and make recommendations, but Parliament would make the final decision. Caps were also placed on the amount that can be spent by each side of the debate with two "designated organisations", one for each side of the debate, would be able to spend at most £5m campaigning, of which up to £600,000 could come from public funds, and would also be entitled to free broadcasts and mail shots. All other interested parties would be able to spend at most £500,000 and would have to be registered with the Commission if they receive any single donation in excess of £10,000. Furthermore, the Government was permitted to publish information publicising its view, with no spending limit, until 28 days compared to 70 days for all other participants.

Opinion polls

Every opinion poll on how people would vote in a referendum pointed to a "no" vote. ^{[ citation needed ]}

ICM asked 1,000 voters in the third week of May 2005: "If there were a referendum tomorrow, would you vote for Britain to sign up to the European Constitution or not?”: 57% said no, 24% said yes, and 19% said that they did not know.^{[ citation needed ]}

Cancellation

Following the French and Dutch rejection of the treaty, Jack Straw announced on 6 June 2005, to the House of Commons, that the plans for the referendum in early 2006 had been shelved.

The matter became one of only hypothetical interest following the replacement of the proposed constitution with the agreement of the text of the Treaty of Lisbon on 19 October 2007.

Related Research Articles

The politics of Gibraltar takes place within a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic British Overseas Territory, whereby the Monarch of the United Kingdom is the constitutional head of state represented by the Governor of Gibraltar. The Chief Minister of Gibraltar is the head of Government. As a British Overseas Territory, the Government of Gibraltar is not subordinate to the Government of the United Kingdom. The British Government, however, is responsible for defence and external affairs but Gibraltar has full internal self-government under its 2006 Constitution.

The Treaty of Nice was signed by European leaders on 26 February 2001 and came into force on 1 February 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe</span> 2004 failed attempt to formally establish a constitution of the European Union

The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European Union (EU). It would have replaced the existing European Union treaties with a single text, given legal force to the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and expanded qualified majority voting into policy areas which had previously been decided by unanimity among member states.

The 1975 United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum, also known variously as the Referendum on the European Community (Common Market), the Common Market referendum and EEC membership referendum, was a non-binding referendum that took place on 5 June 1975 in the United Kingdom (UK) under the provisions of the Referendum Act 1975 to ask the electorate whether the country should continue to remain a member of, or leave, the European Communities (EC) also known at the time as the Common Market — which it had joined as a member state two-and-a-half years earlier on 1 January 1973 under the Conservative government of Edward Heath. The Labour Party's manifesto for the October 1974 general election had promised that the people would decide through the ballot box whether to remain in the EC.

The Single European Act (SEA) was the first major revision of the 1957 Treaty of Rome. The Act set the European Community an objective of establishing a single market by 31 December 1992, and a forerunner of the European Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) it helped codify European Political Co-operation. The amending treaty was signed at Luxembourg City on 17 February 1986 and at The Hague on 28 February 1986. It came into effect on 1 July 1987, under the Delors Commission.

This is a list of referendums related to the European Union, or referendums related to the European Communities, which were predecessors of the European Union. Since 1972, a total of 48 referendums have been held by EU member states, candidate states, and their territories, with several additional referendums held in countries outside the EU. The referendums have been held most commonly on the subject of whether to become a member of European Union as part of the accession process, although the EU does not require any candidate country to hold a referendum to approve membership or as part of treaty ratification. Other EU-related referendums have been held on the adoption of the euro and on participation in other EU-related policies.

A consultative referendum on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was held in the Netherlands on 1 June 2005 to decide whether the government should ratify the proposed Constitution of the European Union. The result was a "No" vote.

A referendum on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was held in France on 29 May 2005 to decide whether the French government should ratify the proposed constitution of the European Union. The result was a victory for the "no" campaign, with 55% of voters rejecting the treaty on a turnout of 69%.

The Portuguese referendum on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was a planned referendum to be held on October 9, 2005 to decide whether the Portugal should ratify the proposed Constitution of the European Union.

Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom is a continuum of belief ranging from the opposition to certain political policies of the European Union to the complete opposition to the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union. It has been a significant element in the politics of the United Kingdom (UK). A 2009 Eurobarometer survey of EU citizens showed support for membership of the EU was lowest in the United Kingdom, alongside Latvia and Hungary.

The Gibraltar Constitution Order 2006 was taken to a referendum in Gibraltar on 30 November 2006. A coalition of groups opposing the proposal held that a majority of 60% should be required to give effect to a new Constitution, quoting other instances, but the political parties held that the result should be decided by a simple majority in favour of the new constitution. The constitution was approved by 60% of the votes anyway.

In general, the law of the European Union is valid in all of the twenty-seven European Union member states. However, occasionally member states negotiate certain opt-outs from legislation or treaties of the European Union, meaning they do not have to participate in certain policy areas. Currently, three states have such opt-outs: Denmark, Ireland and Poland. The United Kingdom had four opt-outs before leaving the Union.

The Gibraltar sovereignty referendum of 2002 was a referendum, called by the Government of Gibraltar and held on 7 November 2002 within the British overseas territory, on a proposal by the UK Government to share sovereignty of the territory between Spain and the United Kingdom. The result was a rejection of the proposal by a landslide majority, with little more than one per cent of the electorate in favour.

The Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Act 2009 is an amendment of the Constitution of Ireland which permitted the state to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon of the European Union. It was approved by referendum on 2 October 2009.

The Treaty of Lisbon is a European agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by all EU member states on 13 December 2007, entered into force on 1 December 2009. It amends the Maastricht Treaty (1992), known in updated form as the Treaty on European Union (2007) or TEU, as well as the Treaty of Rome (1957), known in updated form as the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (2007) or TFEU. It also amends the attached treaty protocols as well as the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM).

The 1993 confidence motion in the second Major ministry was an explicit confidence motion in the Conservative government of John Major. It was proposed in order to ensure support in the British Parliament for the passing of the Maastricht Treaty. Due to previous defeats caused when Eurosceptic Conservative MPs voted with the opposition, the Government had to obtain support for its policy on the Social Chapter before the European Communities Amendment Act 1993 could come into effect and allow the United Kingdom to ratify the treaty. Dissenting Conservative MPs were willing to vote against the Government, but had to come into line on a confidence motion or else lose the Conservative whip. Only one eurosceptic MP was deliberately absent; and as a result, the motion passed by 40 votes and the United Kingdom ratified the Maastricht Treaty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon</span> Ratification of the current EU system

The ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon was officially completed by all member states of the European Union on 13 November 2009 when the Czech Republic deposited its instrument of ratification with the Italian government. The Lisbon Treaty came into force on the first day of the month following the deposition of the last instrument of ratification with the government of Italy, which was 1 December 2009.

The history of the European Union from 2004 to the present is the current timeline of the European Union. It is a period of significant upheaval and reform following the 2004 enlargement of the European Union. The EU has taken on ten new members, eight of which were initially much poorer than the EU average, and took in a further two in 2007 with many more on the way. It created the euro a few years before and had to expand this, and the Schengen Area to its new members. However this was overshadowed by the late-2000s recession and damaging disputes over the European Constitution and its successor, the Treaty of Lisbon. Throughout this period, the European People's Party has been the largest group in the European Parliament and provides every President of the European Commission.

The European Union Act 2011, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, requiring a referendum be held on amendments of the Treaty on European Union or the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

The European Union Bill 2004–2005 was a bill of the United Kingdom Parliament which proposed to ratify the European Constitution and to incorporate it into the domestic law of the United Kingdom and to amend the European Communities Act 1972 to include it in the list of Treaties and hold a referendum throughout the United Kingdom and Gibraltar on whether to approve the proposed Constitution which would be overseen by the Electoral Commission.

References

↑ "Blair confirms EU constitution poll". BBC News. 20 April 2004.
↑ Tony Blair, Prime Minister (20 April 2004). "Debates and Oral Answers for Tuesday 20 April 2004". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 155–157.
↑ Michael Howard, Leader of the Opposition (20 April 2004). "Debates and Oral Answers for Tuesday 20 April 2004". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 157.
↑ "Europe vote 'early 2006' – Straw". BBC News. 29 October 2004. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
↑ "European Union Bill 2004". House of Commons. 25 January 2005. Retrieved 13 November 2016.

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[blair-confirms-1] "Blair confirms EU constitution poll". BBC News. 20 April 2004.

[Hansard_20Apr2004_Blair_Statement-2] Tony Blair, Prime Minister (20 April 2004). "Debates and Oral Answers for Tuesday 20 April 2004". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 155–157.

[Hansard_20April2004_Howard_Response-3] Michael Howard, Leader of the Opposition (20 April 2004). "Debates and Oral Answers for Tuesday 20 April 2004". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 157.

[BBCNews_29Oct2004-4] "Europe vote 'early 2006' – Straw". BBC News. 29 October 2004. Retrieved 14 November 2016.

[European_Union_Bill_fulltext-5] "European Union Bill 2004". House of Commons. 25 January 2005. Retrieved 13 November 2016.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]