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Kent MEP quits frontbench over Lisbon Treaty Referendum
Following David Cameron's u-turn decision not to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, Kent based MEP, Daniel Hannan has quit his frontbench job.
Hannan, who is known as Euro-Sceptic, quit role as the Conservative Party’s legal affairs spokesman in European Parliament stating that he wanted to focus on campaigning for referendum on Europe.
In his Daily Telegraph blog he posted, that he was returning to backbenches, to ‘push for referendums, citizens initiatives and the rest of the paraphemalia of direct democracy”
Hannan also claimed that virtually all of the country’s MP’s had been elected on the back of various promises that there would be a referendum: “The legitimacy of our representative institutions is at stake. Out of 646 MPs in Westminster, 638 were elected on the promise of a referendum. True, the Lisbon Treaty is now in force. But there is nothing to prevent us having a referendum on whether we, as a country, participate in its provisions,”
Nigel Farage, outgoing UKIP Leader and Kent MEP has sought to exploit the uncomfortable positon the Conservative Party is now in by stating that "First we had the Labour Party withdrawing their promise of a referendum, then the Lib Dems and now we have the Tories showing they are not to be trusted either. UKIP is the only party to be trusted on this issue and will continue to fight for this crucial referendum that all the other parties promised but will never deliver."
