In picking a fight over the Lisbon Treaty and by not backing the call for a referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU, the Tories and UKIP are quite obviously running scared.

The Tory position speaks volumes on their position on the European issue – muddled and frankly opportunist.

There were no referendums on the Maastricht Treaty or the Single European Act but for some reason have chosen to pick a fight over this one. Could it be that this is the only referendum in which the Tories have any form of unanimity?Could it be the only referendum which would see Ken Clarke and David Heathcoat-Amory on the same side?

The UKIP position is even more bizzare. After Nick Clegg’s speech today, the UKIP leader, Nigel Farage said:”Whilst in the long term I agree that this is the referendum we want, calling for it at this time is only to cover up their weasel-like position over a referendum.” This party calls for a referendum on our membership of the EU on an almost daily basis. A large proportion of UKIP members come from the now defunct Referendum Party.

The only reason UKIP and the Tories back a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty is because it’s the only referendum they could even have the smallest chance of winning and embarrassing the government.
If we were to vote on a REAL EU referendum – the swivel eyed xenophobia of UKIP with their euro-myths would be lost in the real world of EU membership which brings massive benefits to the UK.

If we were to vote on a REAL EU referendum – the Tories would just split down the middle and return to the in-fighting of the 1990s.

Nice one Nick for showing the Tories and UKIP for what they really are.