The sideshow for the EU summit says Ashton on the referendum vote

A timely interview in the Indy this morning with Baroness Ashton,our EU foreign chief who tells us that whilst she was concerned when the Tories came to power last year,those concerns are dissipated

she did not know whether to expect a repeat of the sort of handbag-waving for which Margaret Thatcher is remembered.....instead she has nothing but praise for the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary

She adds that today's vote on whether to have an EU referendum is a sideshow compared to the more immediate question of the Greek bailout, the subject of the ongoing European summit

Papers line up over the Euro result

Nothing divides the National press more than the European Union and thsi morning is no exception as Parliament votes not to have a referendum on the European treaty.

The usual suspects line up on both sides.

The Mail with a front page headline

A shaming day for democracy

The British people were finally denied a say on the EU constitution last night after a momentous day in the Commons.
MPs voted against holding a referendum on the biggest shift of power to Brussels for at least a decade.
This was despite pledges from both Labour and the Liberal Democrats that voters would have the chance to decide the issue.

Its leader describing the Day that Democracy died

The Sun says the Eu referendum is Brown bread

The “listening PM” ignored the demands of nine out of ten British voters and denied them the say he promised.
Mr Brown broke Labour’s 2005 general election pledge as he ordered his foot soldiers to reject a referendum.
However, 29 of his MPs rebelled and voted for a national poll.
Mealy-mouthed Lib Dems also broke their pledge to give the nation a say on the Lisbon Treaty.

And its editorial describes

it was cowardice that made Gordon Brown break his word over the EU Treaty referendum.
He reneged on his promise to hold one because he was scared of losing.
As a result, Mr Brown demeaned himself and damaged democracy

The Telegraph hasn't given up hope

Referendum campaigners admitted they had suffered a setback. But they refused to give up and said they were pinning their hopes on the House of Lords taking on the Commons and backing a referendum.
William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, said after the vote that he hoped peers in the Upper House would reverse the Commons vote and ensure Labour and the Lib Dems honoured their election promises to hold a referendum.

Whilst affiriming in its leading article that

In an unworthy display of political cynicism, the Government ordered its own MPs to vote against one of the manifesto pledges on which they were all elected.

The Mirror supports the Prime Minister describing how Gordon Brown wins historic victory on EU treaty

The PM told the Tories: "When will you wake up to the fact that 3.5 million jobs are dependent on our membership of the EU, that 700,000 companies are trading with Europe, that 60 per cent of our trade is with Europe?"

Its editorial telling us that

Eurosceptics last night suffered a devastating defeat from which they will never recover.
By rejecting a referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon by 63 votes, the House of Commons passed a point of no return

The Independent describes

Victory for the Government in last night's vote on whether there ought to be a national referendum on the Lisbon treaty was the right result adding that

it should be quite clear to the objective observer that this treaty does not represent a shift in Britain's relationship with the European Union worthy of a referendum, no matter what the die-hard Eurosceptic lobby maintains.

The people may not get a referendum but at least they get to listen to a decent debate

Everyone seems quite complimentary over the debate this morning on Today between David Milliband and William Hague.


The big parliamentary event today is of course the vote on whether they should be a referendum over the European constitution

Alan Cochrane says

In a refreshing change from what has become the depressing 'norm' Miliband and Hague actually appeared TOGETHER in the studio to be grilled by Naughtie on tonight's vote on whether there should be a referendum on the new EU treaty.

The vote could be tight tonight,Nick Clegg has ordered his MP'S to abstain after yesterday's humiliation and some Labour backbenchers may well vote with the opposition.

Guido is predicting that up to three Lib Dems could quit,

Heath, Kramer and Farron are the most likely to resign.

There is an interesting article in this morning's Times by Mary Ann Sieghart in which she claims that two out of three parties are being damaged by the continuing debate

This reneging on a manifesto commitment, though, which will fuel public mistrust just as powerfully, affects only two parties out of the three. For David Cameron's Conservatives are still supporting the promised referendum. No wonder the Tory leader basked in a little Obama fairy-dust at the weekend by borrowing the American candidate's “broken politics” line and applying it to Westminster.

Another prespective by Bob Piper who has the advantage of age

I've mentioned this before and it really annoys the likes of the tory boy bloggers who whinge that they were only spotty kids at the time of Maastricht, and mentioning it now is irrelevant. Now that is convenient for dizzy... but it doesn't get all these senior Tories who now demand a referendum off the hook. William Hague was also a spotty youth, but he was a spotty youth who voted for Maastricht and against a referendum. Ditto John Redwood (well, not the bit about youth). David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary was even a whip in the Major Government who corralled, bullied and badgered Tories through the Maastricht lobbies. The 24 Tory Maastricht rebels were vilified and spat upon by their own colleagues for going through the No lobby

.



But back to the interview on today and James Hoskin though thinks it once again portrays the BBC bias on the programme towards the Tories

The to-and-fro discussion went as expected - Hague arguing well for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, and Miliband arguing (quite) well against it. However, when James Naughtie pressed Miliband on whether the Government are opposing a popular vote on the referendum because it's one they'd lose, the Foreign Secretary dropped in this (quoting as accurately as scrambing around for a pen and paper will allow):
"James, I'm sorry you've given William Hague a points victory in the last minutes of this interview."

Telegraph tries to set the Euro agenda

It looks as though the debate about a European referendum will erupt again this morning.The Telegraph's lead story this morning


A poll carried out by the paper showed

almost 90 per cent of voters want a ballot.
More than 133,000 of the 152,000 people who responded in a series of mini-referendums backed a national vote on the Lisbon Treaty, which would transfer more of Britain's sovereignty to Brussels.

The poll was conducted in 10 marginal seats where either Labour or the Lib Dems face a battle at the next election.

What creadance can be given to this though.10 marginal constituencies and 133,000 voters,hardly representative.Perhaps a case for the Telegraph once again trying to set the political agenda.

Look no further than its leader.

Ours was the only newspaper to cover last week's lobby of the House of Commons. Elsewhere, five demonstrators on the roof of the building were considered more newsworthy than thousands of concerned citizens queuing politely beneath. Meanwhile, the fact that 10 constituencies were casting representative votes for the rest of us was chiefly ignored.
Well, it can't be ignored now. The results are astonishing, and have left opponents of a referendum opening and closing their mouths like Appalachian mountain men

And now this morning,we have protesters up a crane in Westminster,co incidence?

The Mirror quite rightly rubbishes the poll,and in its leader says

Eurosceptics face an inevitable - and deserved - defeat on Wednesday in the Commons.
The Tory-dominated campaign for a referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon makes more noise than sense.
Most people recognise that Britain's future is as part of Europe, not constantly refighting a battle pro-Europeans won in the 70s.

Peter Hoskin though says

There can be no clearer message for the Government and the Lib Dems. They've both underestimated the strength of public feeling on this. And we can expect numerous MPs to beat a nervous retreat from their parties' ludicrous positions, ahead of Wednesday's vote on a Conservative amendment calling for a referendum. In the meantime, it's all more grist for Cameron's anti-Westminster grindstone.

Whilst the Times leader this morning describes

The manner in which the Government has conducted itself on this question is a scandal. An explicit pledge of a referendum on what was then called the EU constitution was made by Tony Blair in 2004 and then set out in the manifesto upon which Labour and Gordon Brown fought and won the general election a year later.

Out for publicity or a real case?

Controversy in the Commons yesterday as the Liberal Democrats walked out on mass after the speaker ejected their foriegn affairs spokesman Ed Davey after he had critisised the speaker's ruling

William Hague's comments that it was the most Liberal Democrats he had seen in the Commons when there was not a pending by election were quite apt.

What the party was attempting to do was to force the Commons to debate a referendum on the EU as part of the debate on the new constitution.The speaker who had sent his deputy to sit during the debate had already ruled that it was not going to happen.

Over at Liberal England Jonathan Calder is not impressed by his party

That debate could being within the Liberal Democrats. The idea of a referendum on EU membership had hardly occurred to us before Ming Cambell announced that it was party policy. Now it is such a point of principle that our MPs cannot bear to stay in the House if they are denied a chance to vote for it. It is all very confusing.

And Peter Hoskin at Coffee House expresses the same sentiment,

It's difficult to see what the Lib Dems hope to gain from their bizzare behaviour. Of course, they're trying to present themselves as staunch defenders of the British public's rights. But their actions will most-likely deny that same public a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, whilst achieving nothing by way of compensation. It's one thing to enshrine a red herring as party policy, but running round and slapping everyone in the face with it is quite another.

But interestingly Staunch socialist Bob Piper agrees with Nick Clegg's tactics

Firstly, a purely political move. It would force Cameron's Conservatives to put their money where their mouths are. The fact is, like Labour in opposition, the Tory front bench are all mouth and no trousers on this

and

we are not in the same Common Market that people voted to remain in by 2 votes to one in 1975. The EU has massively more power and direct influence over our lives than the old common trading agreement, and these powers have been ceded to Europe without the consent of the British people.

For the Telegraph this morning the whole incident is

The authority of the Commons Speaker Michael Martin

Michael White on the Guardian's political blog thinks that if nothing else it got the Lib Dems on all the news bulletins

But there are low politics and high principle at work on all sides, not least the Lib Dems, who are committed to voting against the Tory and Labour Euro-sceptic amendment to stage an amendment on Lisbon.

Final word though to Iain Dale who insists

In the end they all managed to make total prats of themselves. It comes to something when despite hours of planning, the brewery piss-up was still totally disorganised. Whelk stall, anyone?