82 per cent want a referendum on the constitution

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  Stephan Shakespeare

  82 per cent want a referendum on the constitution

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We asked respondents to imagine that the British government, having been part of the negotiating process, had agreed to the final version of the constitution. Should it then be left to Parliament to decide whether to sign up, or should there be a referendum? Only 12 per cent were willing to leave it to the politicians – 82 per cent wanted the whole nation to give its verdict.

We also asked how they would vote if such a referendum were held, assuming the previously listed proposals were in it. Twenty-eight per cent said they would vote in favour of signing up to the constitution, 54 per cent would vote against.

Each month we do a survey on attitudes to Europe. In March we asked: ‘Would you be in favour of a constitution if it meant transferring more control over national issues to the European Union?’ With this powerful ‘if’, only 15 per cent said they would be in favour. But we also asked: ‘Do you think the EU should draw up a constitution to clarify what powers it has, and what powers its member states have?’ In this context, with the suggestion that a constitution could at least potentially limit the powers of the EU, 79 per cent approved. That is to say, they approved of the EU having a constitution, though not necessarily of Britain’s signing up to it.

We also asked about a number of policy areas, and whether in each case ‘all’ or ‘most’ decisions should be made at national level or at the EU level. Only in the area of ‘crime and justice’ did a majority of people (just a shade over 50 per cent) think that all decisions should be made at national level. The other results: environmental policy (all/national: 23 per cent; most/national: 24 per cent; jointly: 36 per cent; most/EU: 11 per cent; all/EU: 3 per cent; don’t know: 4 per cent). Foreign policy: 33