Constitution “yes” vote there for the winning, says Labour peer
Just one in three voters has made up their mind about how they will vote in the referendum on the European Constitution, according to a new poll published today.
The poll, published as part of a report by the Foreign Policy Centre entitled “The Referendum Battle”, shows that only 35 per cent of the electorate has a decided opinion on the Constitution. Eight per cent are in strongly in favour and 27 per cent are strongly against.
That means the “yes” campaign has “all to play for”, according to Lord Chris Radice, who has written the report’s foreword.
The Labour peer admits that the “no” campaign is a long way in front, but says pro-Europeans can take heart from the results of the poll.
In addition to revealing the large number of undecided voters, the poll shows that almost half the electorate could change their opinion depending on their view of whether the Constitution will be good or bad for Britain.
Lord Radice says neither Prime Minister Tony Blair nor the Labour Party can win the referendum on its own, and calls for a broad cross-party campaign.
“If Liberal and Tory ‘waverers’ are to be won over’, then the ‘yes’ campaign will also need the active support of the Liberal leader, Charles Kennedy, as well as pro-European Tories such as Kenneth Clarke, Michael Heseltine and Christopher Patten,” he writes.
“It will therefore be essential for the campaign to be broadly based and able to appeal across party lines.”
He says campaigners must mobilise the support of Labour voters who are at the moment split narrowly against adopting the constitution. Fortunately, he adds, most of these Labour voters are ‘waverers’, who are likely to be persuaded by a united Labour cabinet, including Gordon Brown, John Prescott and Jack Straw.
However, Lord Radice warns that the greatest task for pro-Europeans is tackling widespread ignorance about the Constitution.
“A conspiracy of silence by pro-Europeans . risks allowing opinion against the consitution to become set in stone, making a ‘yes’ victory even harder to attain.”
