§ Mr. Tony Benn (Chesterfield)I present the second group of petitions signed by many tens of thousands of people from all over the United Kingdom who are in favour of and opposed to the Maastricht treaty and represent a wide range of political opinion. The petitioners state:
That the provisions of the Maastricht Treaty, which was negotiated by the heads of Government of the member states within the European Community, are designed to bring about a European Union, complete with its own constitution, in which all the countries that are party to it, will belong; That this union, and its laws, will have a profound effect upon the way in which the United Kingdom is governed, and upon the democratic rights of the citizens of this country to elect and remove those who now enact and administer the laws of this nation".The main point of the petition isThat the British people have been given no right to determine, for themselves, in a democratic vote, whether or not they wish these constitutional changes to be made".The Petition ends in the traditional way:Wherefore your petitioners pray that your honourable House: Will ensure that before the Maastricht Treaty, or any modification or amendment of it, is approved by Parliament, or ratified by Her Majesty's Government, the citizens of the United Kingdom shall be given the right to vote for, or against, that Treaty, in a National Referendum, and that the decision reached in that Referendum be accepted as binding upon the Government and Parliament.And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray etc.
§ To lie upon the Table.