Mick

iTrader: (1)

The Government is reported to have rewritten the question it is going to ask in the referendum on the EU Constitution. Peter Hain was said to be pushing for a question that would inform voters that that the Constitution had been endorsed by Parliament, in an attempt to imply that it has cross-party support.

This plan is now said to have been dropped over fears that it would be criticised by the Electoral Commission. A Government insider said, "The argument is that a row with the Electoral Commission would have given the impression that the Government was doing something that was not completely straight on the question and there's no sense in doing that, because you then start off the whole exercise on the wrong note". There was also some discussion as to whether to describe it as a "Constitution" or just a "treaty" (FT, 12 November).

Last month the Electoral Commission responded to a Private Members Bill from Lord Blackwell, which proposed a question for the referendum. The question said, "Should the United Kingdom ratify the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe?" The Electoral Commission broadly agreed with the question, but recommended that the word "ratify" should be replaced with "approve." It is now thought that the Government may well opt for something along these lines, but it is unclear whether they will still try to gain an advantage by including a "preamble" to the question, which would be intended to steer voters towards saying "yes".

The Government was also accused of a second attempt to improve their chances of winning the referendum, by "rigging" the electorate. In a written answer to Parliament the Government has refused to rule out the possibility of allowing 1.3 million EU citizens who are currently resident in the UK, but are not UK citizens, to vote in the referendum. These voters are thought to be more disposed to vote "yes" in the referendum (Sunday Times, 14 November).

Mick

ajm

Now they have shown us they can and will force anything through they fancy, as per the hunting ban, I'm surprised they are bothering to ask us what we think to be honest (even if they intend to rig it).