Vice-Regal Saint: APPEAL TO THE QUEEN
Your Majesty,
I appeal to you to defend and uphold the British Constitution, as you promised us in your Coronation Oath. I urge you to refuse your Royal Assent to any Bill to enact the E.U. Reform Treaty, unless we, the British people, have first been allowed to have our say in a fair referendum. You promised to govern us according to our laws and customs. The Bill of Rights 1689 states that we should never be ruled by ‘foreign powers’.
In 2004, after large numbers of Britons petitioned both you and your government, Tony Blair promised us a referendum on the European Constitution. As nearly all European and British leaders agree, the E.U. Reform Treaty is a virtual carbon copy of the European Constitution, with around 99% of its wording the same as four years ago.
This Treaty will bring in a European government. Britain would be forced to accept a European foreign and defence policy, including an E.U. army and paramilitary units with the right to operate on our soil. Precious rights such as the presumption of innocence and trial by jury will no longer be guaranteed. Under the Treaty, the E.U. will have power to further remove what independence we have left, without our consent. You may by convention have to follow government advice when giving Royal Assent, but, equally, the government must not give you unconstitutional advice.
From the Campaign for a Referendum on the European Constitution
See also Brits at their Best: "The Constitution that She has taken Her Oath to support"
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8 comments:
Aren't you expecting too much from an institution which can only act upon the advise of politically accountable people?
The crown is the constitutional guardian of our laws and liberties, not our so-called politically accountable people. Our politically accountable people cannot just do whatever they damn well please, simply because we get a say in an election a few years down the road. If they act unconstitutionally, it is within the Queen's power to not follow their advice.
Um, guys...do you WANT the monarchy to end? It would be the Queen's suicide!
Not at all. The treaty of Lisbon - which establishes a permanent elected EU President - finally abolishes her as a head of state, anyway, in effect.
So the question is whether or not to let the last hours of her power pass in inaction and helplessness, or to finally step forth, with all the authority of her throne, and save the nation with a brief and popular exercise of constitutionally apportioned power.
Her Majesty can refuse Royal Assent to any bill. This is within her Royal Reserve powers. This would precipitate a political and constitutional showdown between Monarch and government, and therefore Royal Assent should only be withheld for the gravest reasons.
The loss of national sovereignty under the EU Treaty is such a grave reason. It goes to the heart of defending the British Constitution itself.
As a practical matter, if HM refused Royal Assent, this crisis would be resolved in one of two ways. Either the government gives in and allows a referendum on the treaty, or Parliamentary elections are held by which the government is either vindicated or turned out.
Yes, this would put the Monarchy on the line, but as the last poster said, she might as well go down fighting. Or as Churchill said, "If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end when each of us lies choking in our own blood upon the ground."
However, if HM refused Royal Assent and forced a showdown on this issue, I’m not so sure she wouldn’t be vindicated in the ensuing referendum or election.
Do you really want to hedge the monarchy on a bet that the Queen's views would win the election? I don't. Even if she was vindicated, I don't think it would be by much of a wide majority. Even if 30% voted for the treaty or a pro-treaty government, the Queen would have struck a major blow to millions of her people for which neither she nor her successors would probably never be forgiven.
Where is that section in the Bill of Rights? The only thing I can find relating to anything foreign is a now-abolished section with oaths.
Precious rights such as the presumption of innocence and trial by jury will no longer be guaranteed.
What section of the treaty is that?
The core principle of our blessed Monarchy is that the Queen does not show her colours. While I'm not terribly enthusiastic about the EU (although I find the claim that the Treaty would abolish the Queen as head of state quite hysterical), the Queen refusing Assent would end this principle and bring the Queen into politics.
Regardless of whether she'd be 'vindicated' in the referendum (a referendum I would consider as unconstitutional anyway, I consider referenda a constitutional aberration in this country), she'd be wrecking the chances of her forming a government with the half of Parliament she's scuppered. Labour, regardless of whether they'd lost the referendum, would make it a priority to end the monarchy, which the Lib Dems (and I'm sorry to say, some Tories), would be glad to join them to do.
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