Kinnock ready to back EU constitution
Former Labour Party Leader and now European Commissioner, Neil Kinnock, is relishing the opportunity to campaign in a referendum on the EU constitution.
Leaders of the 25 member states agreed the wording of the controversial document yesterday paving the way for a referendum in the UK.
Tony Blair has said that the challenge for the yes lobby will be to cut through the misconceptions many people hold about the EU and the constitution.
Mr Kinnock, who was opposed to the idea of putting the question to the people, is nonetheless looking forward to a full and open debate.
“The one good thing about it, that I really do appreciate, is the opportunity that it will give to fight a campaign which is based on facts and lucid information, which I think the British people deserve and are in serious need of,” he told the Today programme this morning.
“We don’t get enough of the facts, and that has got to be repaired,” he added. “Everybody has got to take some blame for that. But now, that’s got to be repaired.”
Protagonists on both sides of the debate have been accused of misleading the British public.
Last week the Conservatives said the summit to agree the wording of the constitution simply served as an opportunity for Mr Blair to convince people back home that he had won some kind of victory.
Tory MP David Heathcoat-Amory told the BBC today that the Prime Minister had ignored the “clear message” of last week’s European election results.
