When Irish Ayes? – 3

And so it came to pass, and I did post a prior warning: the second Irish Referendum on the Lisbon Treaty has yielded not merely a majority Yes vote, but a thumping 67% voted in favour, on a turnout increased from 53% to 58%.

There are no doubt a variety of reasons for the reversal in majority preference: the state of the domestic economy is one, and rebutting the No camp’s claims on neutrality, abortion and taxation another. The third, I am sure, is that there is a dislike in Ireland of others – particularly Brits – showing any kind of interference in their affairs. So the involvement of UKIP will not have gone down well.

What now for the Tory policy on Lisbon? If the Poles and Czechs ratify by the beginning of next year, Young Dave is going to find himself in one of those difficult positions. He won’t be helped by Dan, Dan the Oratory Man claiming that the party is considering offering the electorate a referendum on withdrawal.

As I previously pointed out, that’s something you can do only once.