Referendum claim
From Mr Edward McMillan-Scott Sir: Dan Hannan is mistaken when he claims to have been the first to propose an EU referendum (Letters, 5 July). In fact, I first proposed it in a speech to the Scottish Conservative party conference in September 2001, citing 'the development of a real EU defence policy which could replace or displace Nato, or the evolution of an EU system of justice which suspended habeas corpus and reversed the burden of proof, or the levy of an EU tax. All have constitutional implications and all should be the subject — in my view — of referendums in this country.'
Although foreshadowed, these are not proposed in the draft EU constitution, but they might be brought in by the inter-governmental conference this autumn.
Edward McMillan-Scott MEP
Boston Spa, Yorkshire
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