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EFD leaflets for Irish 'No' vote

Tuesday, 8th September 2009

The Europe for Freedom and Democracy Group, of which UKIP is a member, will send a leaflet to every Irish home urging a No vote in the Lisbon Treaty to close an “open door” to immigrants.

It will also argue that the final decision on sensitive ethical issues such as abortion and euthanasia will pass from Irish to European courts if the treaty is ratified.

EFD Group joint leader Nigel Farage said: “With the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which is justiciable at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, it will no longer be your Supreme Court that takes decisions on really hot and contentious issues.” He added the European court had a record of “political activism”.

Mr Farage, who is a trenchant critic of the EU, described the Government’s guarantees on the treaty as “laughable”.

He said the EFD Group had decided to get involved in the Lisbon referendum campaign because the “No side seemed to be a bit thin on the ground, and someone needed to redress the balance”.

Mr Farage said it would cost more than €100,000 to fund the leaflet drop and other campaign activities in Ireland. The Europe of Freedom of Democracy group would provide the cash for the campaign even though the parliamentary group does not contain a single Irish MEP.

Mr Farage, who rejected any suggestion that EFD’s involvement in an Irish referendum was political interference, added: “We are not the Tories, for Christ sake. We are not the party that governed Ireland and fought tooth and nail against the creation of a free state and all the rest of it. We are unashamedly a pro-British party but that doesn’t make us anti-Irish.”

One of the most controversial arguments in the campaign leaflets which will be sent to Irish homes in the next few weeks is a claim that the Lisbon Treaty will open the door to immigration.

“I suspect no one else would touch this issue with a barge pole but we will deal with it in an utterly responsible way,” said Mr Farage.

 You can download the EFD leaflet here.

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