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Thursday, 11 August 2011

UKIP: Nikki Sinclaire in the Media



From The Mail

Petitioners push MPs to debate quitting EU after gathering enough support to trigger talks

MPs could be forced into an historic vote on Britain's withdrawal from the European Union after campaigners gathered enough supporters to trigger a debate.

A petition demanding a straight vote on whether the UK should stay in or leave the EU has attracted more than 100,000 signatures.

It comes as a new YouGov poll published today reveals for the first time that a majority of British people would vote to leave the EU if there was a referendum.

Forced conversation: MPs could be made to debate withdrawing from the European Union after a petition demanding a straight vote attracted more than 100,000 signatures

It found that some 60 per cent of voters want a referendum on whether Britain should remain a member of the EU.

If there was a vote, 52 per cent would vote to leave, with only 30 per cent preferring to stay in. Of those polled, 15 per cent were undecided and four per cent would not bother to vote.

EU membership costs Britain £48million a day - or £4,912 per household.

The last time the UK held a vote on Britain's withdrawal from the EU was in 1975, when just over 67 per cent of voters chose to stay in the union following a national referendum.

Prime Minister David Cameron has promised that MPs will dedicate House of Commons time to debating any issue which has the support of at least 100,000 people.

The mountain of signatures has been gathered by independent West Midlands MEP Nikki Sinclaire.

MEP: Nikki Sinclaire gathered 100,000 signatures by a mix of pen-and-ink and electronic means

Miss Sinclaire said:
'Clearly the people of Britain want to decide who governs Britain.

'It must be alarming to the government that despite all their assurances on sovereignty and cast iron promises, more and more people have given up on this European project.

'This argument has gone on far too long, we must decide our course once and for all in a binding referendum.'

Miss Sinclaire has gathered 70,000 handwritten signatures as well as 30,000 electronic ones.

Last week, the Government launched a new e-petitions website which allows members of the public to set up their own petitions and sign existing ones.

It has paved the way for MPs to be forced into landmark votes on controversial issues including the death penalty, ending mass migration and legalising cannabis.

Commons leader Sir George Young has warned that MPs cannot ignore the popular groundswell.

But critics warned that the e-petitions would allow the Commons to be hijacked by special interest campaigns and will mean MPs spending precious Parliamentary time on proposals that have little or no chance of becoming law.

Miss Sinclaire fears that the Government will brush off her attempts to force a debate as most of her signatures have been gathered by hand.

However, Sir George has signalled that indicated that a traditional pen-and-ink petition could be lodged with the backbench business committee if it has one or more MPs sponsoring it.

The independent MEP will tell a London press conference today:
'This is an encouraging development and raises the prospect of an early debate on our continued membership of the EU.

'To insist that only an online petition will count would disenfranchise millions of people, particularly the poor and elderly, who do not have an email account or access to a computer.

'The huge response to our campaign, together with the findings of our poll, show that most people want their say.'

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The Telegraph

MOST VOTERS WANT BRITAIN TO QUIT THE EU, NEW POLL SHOWS

MOST people would vote for Britain to leave the EU in a referendum, an independent poll reveals today.

In the biggest sign yet that public opinion is rallying against the UK’s membership, 52 per cent of voters said they want to leave the European Union.
Only 30 per cent said they wanted to remain in the EU, according to the YouGov poll.

And six out of 10 people want to have the final say on whether we pull out.

The poll compiled for the Campaign for a Referendum, piles further pressure on David Cameron to hold the first referendum on Europe since 1975.

Nikki Sinclaire, who runs the campaign, said: “This is an encouraging development and raises the prospect of an early debate on our continued membership of the EU.

“Almost eight in 10 people want a national debate on the pros and cons of EU membership.”

Only 30 per cent said they wanted to remain in the EU, according to the YouGov poll.

“The huge response to our campaign, together with the findings of our poll, show that most people want their say.”

The Independent MEP, added: “Clearly the people of Britain want to decide who governs Britain. It must be alarming to the Government that despite all their assurances on sovereignty and cast-iron promises, more and more people have given up on this European project. This argument has gone on far too long, we must decide our course once and for all in a binding referendum.”

Analysis shows that EU membership costs Britain £48 million a day, which amounts to £4,912 per household over the last 11 years.

The results of today’s poll adds further weight to the Daily Express petition to force a Commons debate on leaving the EU.

All demands which get at least 100,000 signatures on the Government’s new e-petition site will have to be considered for a debate in Parliament.

Before the official launch of the site, the Daily Express had already gathered 75,000 signatures backing the call for a referendum which we established on our own website. We are pressing the Government to add those names to the official petition on its site, which itself is already approaching the 10,000 mark.

Readers who added their names to our original petition on www.express.co.uk can expect to receive an email in the next few days from the official e-petition site requesting their permission for their names to be added.

Just click on the link you receive by email and your signature will be transferred to the official Government petition.

Joining our campaign will force the country’s politicians to discuss an issue that is gathering momentum as Britain bails out failing eurozone states.


To see the original: LINK

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