EU: UK Membership — Question

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 3:00 pm on 7 December 2009.

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Photo of Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Minister of State (Africa and UN) 3:00, 7 December 2009

My Lords, far be it from me to cause further shocks to the noble Lord's system. Repetition of his hostility to our country's membership of the European Union does not add strength or wisdom to his arguments. The truth is that the United Kingdom derives great export, employment and investment advantages from our membership of the single market. Does the noble Lord wish to turn that clock back? Does he want to affect the jobs and the security situation that we enjoy because of our membership the European Union? Our country's environmental security, currently under discussion in Copenhagen, and our geopolitical interests are also best served by full and committed participation in the European Union. These and other realities mean that a referendum on continued membership is unjustified, unnecessary and, frankly, irrelevant to the interests and needs of the people of this country.

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Mr Raymond Neal
Posted on 8 Dec 2009 7:37 pm (Report this annotation)

Baroness Kinnock said:-
A referendum on continued membership is unjustified, unnecessary and, frankly, irrelevant to the interests and needs of the people of this country.

There you have it in writing. Despite all polls showing a majority wanting a referendum, the noble Baroness says it's irrelevant to the people in this country.
Just how much out of touch do the politicians of all three main parties have to be before we get a little democracy once again here.