Sir - I wonder how many of your readers have heard of Qualified Majority Voting (QMV), or realize that it will turn Mr. Cameron’s EU Referendum into a farce?

Part of the Lisbon Treaty, QMV will officially become law within the EU on 1st November 2014. This is a very complicated and new way of voting for the EU Council, but basically it means that if The Council puts forward a proposal it will need only a small majority for it to be passed into law. However, if a Member State (such as the UK) puts forward a proposal, then a greater majority of Member State agreement will be required to pass it into law.

But, more importantly for the very first time this system of voting will apply to a Member State’s withdrawal from the EU! Therefore if a UK Referendum produces an “OUT” vote in 2017, we would have to submit a proposal and ask permission from the Council to leave. The Council would then all vote using this new system, and we would require the greater majority before The Council agreed to our withdrawal. They might vote “NO”, but even if the Council voted “YES” they could delay our withdrawal by two years or longer! This proves that we have finally relinquished our democratic rights to others: France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Rumania etc., etc.

If you want to know more then look on the following website for the official EU description and search for “Withdrawal of Member State”.

http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/glossary/qualified_majority_en.htm

BRENDA WHEELER

UKIP - WORCESTER