Nick Clegg should Apollo-gise for this rubbish.

Nigg Clegg, the true master of talking out of your arse is off again, this time he says we can be self-sufficient in energy by 2050 without building new coal-fired or nuclear power stations. He has announced a massive five page (yes five full pages!) ‘Apollo Project for UK Energy Independence’. The main thrust of his brilliant plan is to "Source all energy requirements from within the EU by 2030 so that the country does not need to import energy from unstable regimes." Sounds good but if Clegg were to pay a visit to this planet for a short while he would realise that the idea of sourcing our energy requirements from within in the EU by 2030 is a work of science fiction:

From the EurActiv Site:

Oil and gas reserves are unevenly distributed around the globe, and the largest reserves are situated in politically or economically insecure regions (Middle-East, Russia). North Sea oil and gas fields have already been exploited beyond their peak, leaving Europe dependent on non-EU countries for future supply.

The Commission Green Paper on security of energy supply (November 2000) drew a sobering picture of the EU's energy situation. If no action is taken, it predicted, the EU's energy dependency will climb from 50% in 2000 to 70% in 2030. The particular situation for the main imported fossil fuels was described as follows:

Oil:

45% of EU oil imports originate from the Middle East;
by 2030, 90% of EU oil consumption will have to be covered by imports

Gas:

40% of EU gas imports originate from Russia (30% Algeria, 25% Norway);
By 2030, over 60% of EU gas imports are expected to come from Russia with overall external dependency expected to reach 80%.

Coal:

By 2030, 66% of EU needs is expected to be covered by imports.

To back up this massive five page document, Clegg points us to his Liberal Democrat policy paper 82 (2007) in which he claims that the Lib Dems will Increase the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation to require at least 10 per cent of all fuel sold on UK forecourts to come from renewable sources by 2015. Isn't this just another example of the Lib Dems living in cloud cuckoo land when we know the damage Biofuels are causing?

Lords reject a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

The House of Lords has rejected the Conservative proposal to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty by 62 votes. No doubt we can thank the Lib Dems for this betrayal of our country. Nick Clegg has proved himself once again to be two faced. Clegg ordered his MPs to abstain from the vote in the Commons, but he ordered his Peers to vote against a referendum in the Lords. We have been let down and sold down the river by our elected representatives. It is now down to our Irish cousins to save us from an EU Super State by voting NO in tomorrows referendum.

The vote was lost by 280 -218.

Breaking News: If you are Irish you must read this before voting. Your government has held secret talks in Brussels to get around a 'NO' vote tomorrow.

William Hague writes to Nick Clegg over Lisbon (again).

William Hague's most recent letter to Nick Clegg:

"Dear Nick,

Last week I wrote to you about the Liberal Democrats' position in the Lords on a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. I have still had no reply.

Yesterday, the Lords rejected by 226 votes to 197 an amendment to improve parliamentary scrutiny and accountability over the Government's use of the opt-in on crucial justice and home affairs issues. The amendment was recommended by the cross-party Constitutional Affairs committee. In the Commons your party voted on a three line whip in favour of a near identical amendment. In the Lords your party voted on a three line whip against it. The vote was lost because your party voted against it.

Why did your party vote in utterly opposite ways in the Lords and Commons? Was it because you have completely changed your mind? Was it because your Liberal Democrat Lords are out of control? Or is it because your real objective is to see the Lisbon Treaty in force at all costs before the British people have a chance to have their say?

Tomorrow the Lords will vote on a referendum on the Treaty. Why do you refuse to explain why they are set to vote in a completely different way from your MPs? Don't voters have a right to know? Is it because your position is completely indefensible?

I look forward to your answer.

Yours sincerely,

William Hague

P.S. As I reminder I enclose my letter of last week. Owing to the public interest in this matter I am releasing this letter to the media."

I've posted on the subject of Nick Clegg's deceit on the Lisbon Treaty many times and I still don't understand his position. Perhaps he will reply to William Hague's letter this time and explain his ridiculous stance.

Breaking News: If you are Irish you must read this before voting. Your government has held secret talks in Brussels to get around a 'NO' vote tomorrow.

Nick Clegg has more faces than Big Ben (Lisbon Treaty).

I've pointed out several times what a complete and utter two faced ARSE Nick Clegg really is: HERE, HERE and HERE. Well it seems that William Hague has written to Cleggie asking where he actually stands on the subject of a referendum for the Lisbon Treaty. I'll be stuffed if I know.

William writes:

"Tomorrow the Lords will begin the key votes on the Lisbon Treaty, including the crucial vote on a referendum. In the Commons you ordered your MPs to abstain on the vote. You even ordered those frontbenchers who insisted on keeping their manifesto promises to resign.

You said you wanted a referendum on the EU – in or out. On 25th February you led your MPs in storming out of the Chamber because Mr. Speaker had not selected a Liberal Democrat amendment for that referendum.

In the Guardian on 25th February you wrote: 'We want a referendum on Europe with substance. This generation deserves its chance to say where we stand on Europe - in or out.'

Yet in the House of Lords, when an amendment was tabled to provide for the very In-Out referendum that you had presented as the key Liberal Democrat objective, your peers abstained. Had those 76 peers voted for the amendment you would have won the vote. Why were they told to abstain?

Now the Lords will soon vote on a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. The Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Lords has indicated that Lib Dem peers will be whipped to oppose it.

Do you support this? If not, have you lost control over your party in the Lords or will you publicly tell Lib Dem peers to vote the same way as Lib Dem MPs were told to? If you do, does that not expose your real position as being determined to force this Treaty through without the British people having the say they were promised in any way at all?

The Liberal Democrat position on Europe now looks to be a mixture of chaos and hypocrisy. Before you became leader you and Vince Cable proposed a motion at your 2005 party conference that 'any proposals which involve significant change in the relationship between the Union, the member states and its citizens should be approved in Britain through a referendum'. I agree with the thrust of that. So why won't you honour your promises?

The people who voted Lib Dem at the last election on the basis of your promises have a right to know your true position. I look forward to hearing from you what it actually is.

P.S. Owing to the public interest in this matter I am releasing this letter to the media."

Like William Hague, I will be waiting with bated breath for Clegg's reply. No doubt it will be worded in such a way that no one actually knows what he's talking about (himself included). What an embarrassment this man has turned out to be for the Lib Dems. The latest poll from ComRes shows the voter's opinion of his leadership.

Lisbon Treaty - Lib Dems - the most dishonest party?

Last night Tory peer Lord Blackwell proposed a motion to make it law that a referendum is held on whether Britain joins the Euro. The motion was defeated by 195 votes to 135. Now this is a surprise seeing as Labour promised to hold a referendum on the Euro during their 1997 election campaign. Why would they vote against their own policy? As Lord Strathclyde said: there was "something very fishy" about the government's refusal to back its own policy. I wonder if Gordon Brown has promised the other European leaders that we will join the Euro shortly after ratifying the Lisbon Constitution Treaty. If that is the case, then this is another example of Brown denying the people their democratic right to vote. There's a good chance that if entering the Euro did go to a referendum we (like the Lisbon Treaty) would vote NO. And Gordon can't let that happen.

It looks very much like Gordon Brown is going to railroad us into the Lisbon Treaty, shortly followed by forcing the Euro on us.

As angry as that makes me, it is nothing compared to how the dishonest behaviour of the Lib Dems infuriates me. A while ago I wrote the post: How to flush out a rat - In which I explained how Nick Clegg had forced his MPs to abstain from the vote for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, but would whip the Lib Dem peers to vote against a referendum when it reached the upper house. The reason - Gordon Brown would not be guaranteed to win the vote against a referendum unless the Lib Dem peers voted with his Labour peers. Nick Clegg has more faces than Big Ben's clock tower.

It gets worse. The UKIP peer, Lord Pearson is calling for vote on a referendum on Britain's continued membership of the EU. Now this is where it gets a little confusing: The Lid Dem peers are going to abstain from this vote. Can anyone out there figure that one out? Well a Lib Dem spokesman tried to explain their ridiculous position. He said the Lib Dems did not want to "give succour" to eurosceptics by voting with the UK Independence Party. Apparently the party wanted a referendum on whether Britain should remain in Europe from a "pro-European stance". What a load of old cobblers.

Do you think the Lib Dems are the most dishonest party? I'm pretty sure they are.

Exclusive - Nick Clegg lives!

I know what you were thinking when you saw Nick Clegg's name in the title of this post - isn't he dead? You could be forgiven for thinking so. For a leader of one of the big three political parties he seems to keep a very low profile - we see more of McCavity than Clegg. It was the same during the Lib Dem leadership race, Huhne was all over the media while Clegg skulked in the shadows. I was sure Huhne would win, I bet many Lib Dem members are now wishing he had.

Talking of Lib Dem leaders, Vince Cable has been reported as saying that the party was "not doing as well as we hoped we would be" in recent polls. However, with only two days until the local elections, Clegg has now stepped from the shadows to claim:

"I am in fact extremely pleased with where we are in the polls. "The polls yesterday we're at 20%, that's considerably higher than 13% just a few years ago. "It's far, far higher than we've ever been at this point in the political cycle two or three years after a general election."

The truth of course, is that with Labour dying a slow death, the LibDems should be doing much, much better. The Lib Dems third leader in two years has, to my recollection only surfaced once since his Lisbon Treaty abstention fiasco - and that was to tell us how many notches he has on his headboard. He's not had a very auspicious year so far has he? If I were a Lib Dem supporter (not in a million years) I would be a little worried to have a leader who keeps a low profile, only to pop up to make a show of himself and the party. However, I would be more worried by his lack of ambition. Apparently his overriding ambition is to double or more than double the number of Lib Dem seats over the next two elections. Wow, five (ish) years of his leadership and he strives to have less seats than the Tories have now.

When Nick Clegg eventually steps down, will the history books say: Nick set himself low standards - and failed to achieve them.

No one should ever vote Lib Dem again - Lisbon Treaty.

There are rumours flying around and whispers of what could be the most disgusting act of self serving politics to occur in decades. It is well known that if you were to cut Nick Clegg in half, you would find gold stars running through him like Blackpool rock. So it was no surprise when he forced his MPs to abstain from voting for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. You see, it is thought that as many as fifty Lib Dem MPs would have voted for a referendum if given a free vote. And old EU Nick would not like that. To cover up this massive split in his party he invented the In or Out option, which was seen by all as a feeble attempt at a smokescreen.

Now, you would think that Nick would continue with this party policy when the Lisbon Treaty reaches the House of Lords. You would, it seems, be thinking wrong. There's one major difference between Lib Dem MPs and Lib Dem Peers - Lib Dem Peers are very Pro-Europe and if given a free vote, they would probably vote against allowing a referendum. This is were Nick has a problem: If he sticks to his party policy and forces the Lib Dem Peers to abstain, there is a damn good chance that the House of Lords will vote in favour of a referendum. However, if he does the dirty and allows Lib Dem Peers to vote, there is a equally good chance that the House of Lords will vote against a referendum.

So this is the question: Will Nick Clegg perform an act of rank hypocrisy and allow his Peers to vote, and thus steal the people's chance of a democratic vote. Or will he stick to his previous policy and force them to abstain, and risk damaging his dreams of European union. There is also the possibility that Clegg and Gordon Brown have done a deal.

If Clegg does not whip his Peers to abstain, then I hope the people can see him for what he is.

Lisbon Treaty - How to flush out a rat (Nick Clegg).

There are some that believe that Nick Clegg and Gordon Brown have come to some kind of gentleman's agreement. Did Nick Clegg force his MPs to abstain from the Lisbon Treaty referendum vote to help out Gordon? Could there be a Lib-Lab pact in the offing? I suspect that there could be some truth in such a belief, but I'm not convinced. Yet.....

There is one sure fire way to find out. You see Nick Clegg has promised to whip the Lib Dem Lords to abstain from the same vote if it is re-introduced into the Upper Chamber. The problem for Gordon Brown that is the Lords just might vote in favour of a referendum. From the Telegraph:

There are 202 Conservative peers, and 215 Labour peers. IWAR says that if the 78 Liberal Democrats were all to abstain, there would need to be just 13 more of the 224 crossbenchers in favour than against in order to deny the Government a majority.

So, do you see where this is leading? There is a decent chance that the vote in the Upper Chamber will go against Gordon's wishes. If Nick Clegg is in Brown's pocket then he will go back on his instruction to Lib Dem peers to abstain. If Clegg instructs Lib Dem peers to vote against a referendum then the rat will have been flushed out.

Let's wait and see what happens shall we?

5th March 2008 - The day the Lib Dem party dies? (Lisbon Treaty).

Tomorrow could see the death of one of our major political parties. In an act of suicidal idiocy, Nick Clegg will order his MPs to abstain from voting on the Conservative amendment calling for a referendum on the Lisbon treaty. If any of the Lib Dem MPs obey his command they will never hold the position of MP again following the next election. In fact some may face pressure to resign before then. Tens of Lib Dem seats will be lost and the party will die.

If Labour manage to stop the referendum then they will lose and lose big in the next election. If they think the public don't care then they are more detached from reality than I thought. At the next election the people will be told that they have been cheated by Labour, they will be told that Labour denied them a referendum because they wouldn't have voted the way the government wanted. They will be told that on the 5th of March 2008 democracy died in the United Kingdom and that the blood is all over Gordon Brown's hands.

When the Lib Dems elected Nick Clegg as their leader, they opened their arms to welcome the Grim Reaper.

UPDATE: Ben Brogan reports on a Lib Dem cabinet walkout.

UPDATE 2: Nick Clegg on Newsnight. If you are a Lib Dem supporter, you may want to consider your options after watching THIS. (17min 55sec into the show).

Nick Clegg's referendum poll farce - Apples and oranges.

Take a look at this apple. The slice represents the UK's membership of the EU. The slice has a pip, and that pip is our representative on the European Council. Each of the twenty seven EU member states has a similar slice. Even though we are individual slices, we are linked because we are all part of the same apple. Our pip is very important because it represents our country's interests and protects our sovereignty within the apple.

The failed Constitution and now the Lisbon Treaty aims to join the 27 segments together to produce one big apple. The problem is this: Our pip would no longer represent our slice - it would become just one of the big apple's pips. In effect our part of the apple would be seedless, the pips make the decisions and the big apple no longer has a say and must obey the pips' rulings. That is a big step for our slice to take, that's why we were promised a referendum by all the major parties - and that is why we must have a referendum.

Then along comes Lib Dem supremo Nick Clegg to suggest that it would be better if we had a referendum not to decide if our slice joined the apple, but whether it would be better if we became an orange. And he wonders why the speaker rejects his proposition as irrelevant to the debate? I wouldn't mind so much if Nick Clegg wasn't so keen to join the apple and has no intention of ever becoming an orange.

Lisbon Treaty - I would leave the Lib Dems.

I've had enough of Nick Clegg and his deceitful policy on the Lisbon Treaty. It's policy designed to dodge the real question. The problem is that granting a referendum on the treaty should be the most important aim in politics today. Some Lib Dem bloggers understand this and so do many Lib Dem members. The farce of an "in or out" vote, and the pantomime we saw in the house on Tuesday should turn their stomachs. Very few people in this country want an "in or out " vote, but the majority do want a vote on the Lisbon Treaty. Nick Clegg and his front bench know this, and yet they still insist on putting up this smokescreen.

Many of those who oppose a referendum love to tell us that the public aren't interested. I assure you they will be if they don't get one. What Clegg and Brown must understand is this: there are many members of their respective parties who do understand the situation and do care passionately about the public's democratic right to have their promised referendum. The Lisbon Treaty comes in at number one on my list of political priorities and I'm sure that is the case for the vast majority of those who take an interest. The general public may not be paying much attention at the moment, but party members and those who are most likely to drag their backsides to a polling booth, are.

If David Cameron and the Conservative party were not supporting a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, I would be lost politically. I could not support a party that did not honour one of the most important manifesto promises made by all parties in the last 20 years. I could not support a party that denied me my democratic right to vote, purely because I would vote in opposition to their aims. If I were a Lib Dem I would be making it very clear to Nick Clegg that membership card would be fed into the shredder unless he honoured the party manifesto.

Nick Clegg - Shit or get off the pot.

Lisbon Treaty - Is Nick Clegg making a massive mistake.

I thought the morally bankrupt Lib Dem idea of dodging the Lisbon Treaty referendum question was dead. Their original call for a referendum on membership of the EU (in or out) rather than one on the Treaty was seen universally as fence sitting in its lowest form. However Nick Clegg seems to resurrected this pathetic policy - why? I don't know. Perhaps it's just to grab the headlines, or maybe it's an attempt to muddy the waters of the real debate. The Lib Dems are expected to table a House of Commons motion on Tuesday demanding a public vote on whether Britain stays in the EU. As William Hague points out:

"This is an attempt to paper over the Lib Dems' widening split on a referendum on the renamed EU Constitution. "But the key question remains whether the Liberal Democrats will honour their manifesto promise. The Lisbon Treaty is in substance, nearly identical to, the EU Constitution. "That is what the Lib Dems promised their voters a referendum on. They did not mention an in-out referendum to voters - they have no mandate for one."

I doubt very much that this Lib Dem smokescreen will be agreed to by the House of Commons. And you can bet your house on Clegg counting on that. The motion will fail and Clegg will claim that the Lib Dems backed giving the public a vote whilst the other parties refused. Clegg knows that the majority of the public, both left and right, want to stay in the EU (according to the polls). He believes that if his pathetic motion does by some wild chance get passed and the public do get a referendum on our membership of the EU, we will vote to stay in.

I'm not so sure. The polls say that the majority of the people want to stay in the EU. The polls also say that the people would reject the Lisbon Treaty if given the chance. What the polls do not tell us is this: How the people would vote on membership of the EU if they were refused a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. I'm for staying in the EU as it stands now. However, if we are not allowed a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, I would vote "out" if given a referendum on our membership of the EU. It would be a protest vote. Some would call this petty, but I would call it grasping at the only shred of democracy left to me.

So I hope Clegg gets his "in or out" referendum, because he could get more than he bargained for.

Name and shame MPs voting for the EU Reform Treaty.

First things first - I will be posting a list of all MPs who vote in favour of ratifying the EU Reform Treaty tomorrow. I hope that all those bloggers who, like myself believe that government are welching on their promise of a referendum, do the same. It would also be in the interest of the country if those people who read political blogs emailed the list to their contacts. Any MP voting for the EU Treaty will be neglecting their solemn duty to represent their constituents and they will be betraying the people who voted for them. Any MP behaving in such a manner does not deserve to be a member of parliament in a democracy, and I hope that they are never again allowed to work in politics after the next election. If your MP votes against your wishes on matter of such great personal and national interest, then that person is denying you your democratic rights.

Today the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee has reported that the foreign policy in the treaty was virtually the same as in the constitution:

'We conclude that there is no material difference between the provisions on foreign affairs in the constitutional treaty, which the government made subject to approval in a referendum, and those in the Lisbon treaty on which a referendum is being denied.'

The European Scrutiny Committee has said the treaty is virtually the same as the failed constitution. The leaders of all the other EU member states have said the treaty is virtually the same as the failed constitution. The writer of the EU Reform Treaty has said it is virtually the same as the failed constitution. The Conservatives and other major UK political parties have said that the treaty is virtually the same as the failed constitution. In fact the only people on the entire planet who say different are Gordon Brown, Nick Clegg and their respective parties. Someone is lying to us - who do you think it is?

MPs should be made very aware that they will lose their seats if they vote in favour of ratifying this treaty.

Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) 16 January 2008

I missed PMQs today due to being in bed (working nights), but I understand (from reading comments on Iain Dale's Blog) that Cameron put in a decent performance, and that Gordon Brown has resorted to not answering questions put to him by the opposition. I hope this will come across in any clips shown on the news throughout the evening. Quite a few people are also starting to question the non-partisan status of the speaker. I'm hoping to watch it sometime this evening, after which I will update this post on my reading of the session.

You can watch today's PMQs by clicking HERE. Please feel free to leave your opinion in the comments. Who won? how did Clegg do?

The Sun's Ipsos Mori poll puts David's Conservatives ten points clear of Gordon's Government.

I'm not sure but does The Sun's political editor GEORGE PASCOE-WATSON lean a little to the left? George points out that Gordon Brown enjoys a four point lead over David Cameron as "most capable PM" in the paper's recently (January 9 and 10, 2008) commissioned Ipsos Mori poll. He also points out that Brown has an 18 per cent lead on handling a crisis best and is six points ahead on understanding problems facing Britain.

It's not until you get past the headline (Brown is still the top man (just)) of George's article that you discover that the Conservatives have extended their lead to 42% - ten points clear of Labour. The LibDems under Nick Clegg are dragging arse on 15%. I know The Sun and Murdoch are supposedly warming towards David Cameron, but the tone of George's article does not support that theory.

This is not the 2008 start Gordon Brown wished for. Long may it deteriorate.