There is one fundamental problem there is no democratic control of the whole European Union. not from our joining until now have any of the people had a vote on anything that is decided and enacted

neil, warwks, uk

Red lines or no red lines, enshrined in this amendment is majority voting in a few years time, What then for the red lines, We will have lost complete control of our destiny,

Jon Frederics, Kingston, England

Everything about politics here in this country has a very grubby undertone to it. So how hard are the Kinnocks and the other fat labour cats working in Europe, what is their purpose?

This is probably what most ex/ redundant lefties aspire to, where they feel most comfortable,and rather like our P M,
actually have no idea what the country requires of them!
Political integrity is way off course, (look that one up)
This is backdoor socialism at its worst,oppression!

Let the country decide, by giving us a referendum now. Prove you are a democratic man Gordon Brown, not a Euro glove puppet.

To David Bracewell ,Canada, sit there smugly on the other side of the Atlantic, frothing, just be watchful of your next door neighbour!!

maggie snook, wool wareham, Dorset UK

If there was no Eurofighter jet, the UK would have to buy foreign made planes (American most likely) to replace aging planes. What's wrong in making stuff in Europe? What's wrong with spending money on Space programs? Should Europeans just sit and watch American, Chinese, Russian, Japanese and Indian firms and scientists develop space technologies? What a rotten and silly way to look at things... Don't think Europe can survive by simply relying on Financial transactions made in the city of London. We have to actually make stuff, invest and use our brains.

Talk2guy, Los Angeles,

I have not yet in all the years past heard any politician who gave the British a good reason WHY we have the need for overpaid, over bossy jobsworths telling us how we should live and behave in our country. Do you know why ? The EU is corrupt, everybody knows it and yet there is this great need by the political classes to give away their power.

In the last few days we have had that political upstart called a Foreign Secretary talking to everyone, including his pals in parliament as though they were gormless prats. This man doesn't deserve to hold the position, his general attitude is all wrong and he's arrrogant, just like the rest of this mob which they call a government.

What advantage will we have when this treaty is signed by a man who is pretending to look after our interests. NONE !

Phil de Buquet, Newport, England

What about British Common Law under these treaties and under the governance of the EU civil "servants?" Will you be able to keep trial by jury vs. magistrates, habeas corpus and the like? Not likely.

john b., Baltimore, USA, Maryland

If the choice is disappearing into obscurity or being a member of the EU, I choose obscurity. However, this is a false choice, and one that is typical of the 'Federasts' own ofallacious arguments which are made up of straw-men, red herrings and non sequiteurs.

To succeed in the global economy we need to be nimble and quick, not big and slow. The EU, whose accounts have not been ratified by the auditors for over 10 years now, provides us very little and constricts us very much.

Set the people FREE!!! EU Referendum NOW!

Jez B, London, England

This argument is not about whether the E.S.S.R comes into being it is all about whether, as citizens of a supposedly democratic Britain, we get a vote on the matter as is our right!
The fact Pro-Europeans posters miss is the left-wing idiots are giving our freedoms away. It is bad enough being governed by an elected British government I despise, let alone a bunch of unelected European ministers. It is not about whether we are still 'Great' it is about selling our democracy down the river. The question people should be asking is why this is happening? If there was a vote and everyone said yes to Europe then that would be the choice made. As it is the choice has been made by the political leaders of this country and that is not democracy.
Get a grip and open your eyes to what is happening!

David Thijm, Stourbridge, UK

Canada...Hmmmmm.....

poocherama, london,

I fear we are facing the end of democracy. The EU has turned into a morass of unelected bureaucrats who have exactly the same philosophy as Bottler Brown, control tax & spend. The fact that it's our money and our lives their controlling is of no importance to this political elite.
Did our forefathers fight for the democratic freedom from King John, Magna Carta 1215, only to be ruled by pen pushers from Belgium.
Did our soldiers die in two world wars fighting Germany only for our sovereignty to be given up by a quisling wimp without a fight.
God save the Queen and Britain.

Vernon Moat, Exeter, UK

Well said Peter Goddard. Britain does need the EU or it will disappear into obscurity.

Globalisation is a fact of life and will continue whether people like it or not.. you either adapt or disappear. Those are the real choices. Whilst most Brits are slow to accept change or new ideas, they are going to have to start waking up and moving along.

Chantel, UK,

I totally agree with Mr Goddard and am incensed by the petty and backwards attitudes of so many of my compatriots. Britain is not so Great anymore and hasn't been for a long time. The reasons for this have absolutely nothing to do with Europe. If the UK is to be able to prosper and retain what clout it still has in a world of new 'superpowers' then it cannot do so alone. Our options are the USA or the EU and I for one know which I would choose. We can buddy up with a self-destructing, declining empire, who chooses to listen to us only when we can be of use to them or we can make ourselves a dominant force in a still-evolving grouping of nation states. The EU is not perfect, but it cannot even try to become so if its attempts to improve itself continue to be blocked by those who fear loss of their 'sovereignty'. Personally I'm not all that thrilled about my sovereignty being in the hands of a man who was not democratically placed in his position and who does not listen to the people.

Zandra Culliford, Brussels,

1. The British people deserve to have a say whether we lose any powers to govern ourselves - even if we do lose our democracy, we should at least have one last democratic vote to decide about it...

2. There should be a referendum on principle - we were promised it, therefore we should get it. Is it any wonder no-one trusts politicians any more? And anyone saying that the Treaty is not the same as the Constitution is either gullible or stupid, as even the people who wrote the thing have admitted it's basically the same

sam, farnham, uk

I am English and proud to call myself European.
You are WRONG in saying that everyone is against a more United Europe. Many of us want more Europe, not less, because that is the way forward, and we believe in a European future, not one that says no to our fellow Europeans and just nods through whatever the USA says!
We need the treaty to help Europe work beter, it is as simple as that!

Peter Goddard, Epsom, England, EU

The majority of the British people do not and never have wanted to see their country subsumed into a European Empire. We are a sovereign state with our own queen, laws and parliament. If Gordon Brown is not prepared to defend us against such an imposition, then he is clearly not fit to be Prime Minister. Indeed by signing such a Treaty he is behaving like a traitor to the people he claims to represent.

Now is the time for the Conservatives to find their voice over Europe. Enough of this stupid adventure. Enough of filling the pockets of corrupt oligarchs. Enough of having our laws, customs and way of life corrupted by this evil organization. We must get out, the sooner the better.

Adrian Gilbert, Tonbridge,

The British public is resolutely against this and yet we are ignored. Brown keeps talking about standing up for Britain yet refuses to consult the British people either in an election or a referendum. This red lines talk is just cynical smoke and mirrors to distract us.

The EU is a cosy club in which ministers and Eurocrats make decisions and deals without the inconvenience of having to make an argument for it and pass legislation through parliament. It is fundamentally undemocratic and actively undermines our democratic institutions. The whole shabby system needs wholesale re-design and reform. Most of its areas of competence are wholly unnecessary anyway. A free trade area, which is all the British people have ever approved electorally, does not require the vast bureacracy and powers the EU has accumulated. That is a federal superstate. If that is the direction they want us to take then say so, set it up democratically and ask for our approval.
We demand a referendum.

Paul Owen, Birmingham, UK

As a British citizen by birth I am saddened by how much your sovereignty has diminished, however there is no one to blame but yourselves. Your citizens have been asleep at the switch through successive governments that bit by bit either gave away or allowed your laws and freedoms to be erroded by Brussels. All you have to look forward to now is being governed by unelected and unaccountable bureauocrats who will micromanage every aspect of your lives. There will be little recourse and if you don't toe the Brussels line they will land on you like a ton of bricks. I remember when this began as a Common Market scheme for ease of trade and goods but of course like all bureaucracies they must expand or die and did this one ever expand!
Long live the United States of Europe.

I. KELLY, Toledo, Oregon, USA

The EU doesn't need Britain, because Britain, which often has a reasonably useful take on Euro-policy, chooses to be obstructive, unctuous and arrogant in everything it does.

The British economy, mired in useless service industries, low wages, failed privatisations and a coming housing crisis, may have been attractive as a +third way+ economy 2 years ago, may have seemed a good model then, but now that the economy's weak underpinnings are showing I'm sure no one in Europe would grieve the loss of your startling brilliance.

David Bracewell, Nelson, Canada

Has Guy Fawkes any living relatives in Europe; Brussels preferably ?

Stan(expat), Texas, USA

The question is, can the Tories take us out of the treaty if they are elected, and do they wish to?

Stephen Rothbart, Prague, Czech Republic

I have lived in the centre of Brussels for five years. I have found no trace of democracy but met many nice people who believe they govern in the name of the people.

Rosa Friedman, Brussels, Belgium