Public opposition to Blair EU role increasing |

Thursday 29th October 2009 | 16:03

Public opposition to Blair EU role increasing

Voters are now more opposed to Tony Blair becoming EU president than they were even a few months ago. Opposition to the very idea of a president remains solid.

Opposition to the prospect of Tony Blair as president of the European Council has increased over the summer, according to PoliticsHome research.

A fifty five per cent majority of voters would prefer to see a foreign candidate take up the role rather than the former Prime Minister – an increase of eight per cent since the same question was asked in June.

Under a third of voters (twenty nine per cent) would prefer to see Blair as president.

Opposition to the very idea of an EU presidential role continues to be strong. Fifty seven per cent oppose the idea of an ‘EU president’ (the official name of the post is President of the European Council).

Voters: role should be modest

In the now likely event that the permanent post is created, however, a majority (sixty eight per cent) would like it to be a modest role, chairing summits and co-ordinating between national governments.

Twenty three per cent of people would like to see the President take on a high profile position representing the EU on the global stage.

Over two thirds want Lisbon referendum

Voters were also asked whether they would like Britain to have a referendum on the Lisbon treaty and about their general views on European integration.

Over two thirds (sixty nine per cent) want a referendum on the treaty. This includes the overwhelming majority of Conservative supporters as well as majorities of Labour supporters and non-aligned voters. Liberal Democrat supporters were evenly split.

The survey also found that a majority of voters (fifty two per cent) wanted to see the UK become less integrated with the EU. Twenty two per cent would prefer a higher degree of engagement, and the same proportion wanted to maintain the current level of engagement.

PoliticsHome interviewed 1,342 UK adults by email between 27-30 October 2009 and 1,258 adults between 17-20 July 2009. Results are weighted by party ID to reflect the UK at large.

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Johnny Norfolk

08:47 |
30 Oct 2009
Recommended
10

I think this shows just how much the opposition in all parties is growing against the EU.

How the Tory leadership can just sit back and do nothing about a referendum when no one but themselves support it in the party is frankly unbelievable.

Cameron does not believe in giving any power back to the people otherwise the would do something about this.

This country needs a referendum once and for all, now for the first time we know what it is all about. If they dont it is just stacking major problems for the future.

We dont want referendums on future integration we want a referendum on Lisbon. If we dont we will not be an independant country anymore.

If a Euro presedent is not voted for by the Europeian people it would count for nothing.

Just imagine if OBama was made president by committee as that what is going to happen in Europe.

People need to wkae up to it all before its too late

We are not run by democrats but little dictators.

Derek Emery

09:56 |
30 Oct 2009
Recommended
3

The view of the voters is totally unimportant as this is the EU president role. It's of no concern who they want or don't want and likewise of no concern whether they want a referendum or become more or less integrated. These decisions are far too important for the view of the public ever to be taken into account. In fact any and all EU decisions are far too important for the public view to be taken into account. You can vote for an MEP but they are only there for window dressing.

BGarvie

06:33 |
01 Nov 2009
Recommended
4

The vast majority of the electorate in the UK want a referendum over Lisbon. They do not want closer intigration legally, politically or financially.They have been denied that promise by Labour and the Lib/Dems and no longer trust Brown, Miliband and Mandleson. For years Blair's greed betrayed Britain in his bid for this presidential job in Europe. It is now patently obvious that Blair, Brown and Mandleson have been scheming together for years to get these positions of power. These jobsworths are an absolute disgrace.

Hopefully David Cameron will react soon to this travesty.

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