GOOSE AND GANDER...

So, UK Prime Minister David Cameron has told Scotland's First Minister to call an independence referendum "to end the constitutional uncertainty in the country."   Alex Salmond has previously stated that he wants to hold a referendum on the issue in the second half of this five-year Scottish parliamentary term, most likely in 2014 or 2015, after a "proper debate, consideration and a white paper."

Now on the basis of what`s good for the goose is also good for the gander, Cameron really ought to be calling the much promised referendum on Britain`s membership of the European Union "to end the constitutional uncertainty in the country."   Especially as sucessive Prime Ministers - Blair, Brown and now Cameron -   have consistently promised a referendum and consistently refused to have one, presumably on the basis that they think they might lose.

And they`re probably right in that assumption in much the same way that Alex Salmond is delaying the Scottish independance referendum because he`s by no means certain yet of getting the result he wants.

Now I confess to being a confirmed Eurosceptic.   I think the EU is too expensive, too keen to impose daft legislation that we slavishly follow, too remote from those who are paying for it and, in many respects, simply duplicates processes already performed very ably by sovereign governments.  And I simply don`t buy Cameron`s argument that, as Britain does 40% of its trade with the EU, then to withdraw would have economic consequences that we would regret.   Extending that argument to its logical conclusion, therefore, I see no evidence that the trade between the EU and China, Taiwan, Japan, the USA, Vietnam, etc. has dried up because those countries are not EU members.    So I think you can guess which way I would vote given the chance.

But whatever one`s views of the EU, my main complaint is actually with those successive Prime Ministers and their broken promises which perhaps more than anything brings the game of pre-election promises into disrepute and therefore goes to the very heart of the democratic process.   So in a way, even if you are a keen Europhile and wish that whingers like me would just go away, I suggest you might also want the referendum you too were promised so you could have your say too and "end the constitutional uncertainty."   Unless, of course, you already know what the outcome will be.