EU Constitution - Dorset village referendum
WORKERS, OCT 2007 ISSUE
Residents of a Dorset village voted last month in favour of a national referendum on the new European treaty in the country's first official poll on the subject. Villages in East Stoke, near Wareham, decided by 90 per cent that the nation should be surveyed on the new legislation. Of the 333 on the electoral roll, 72 voted yes and 8 no.
The vote was called when village resident and UKIP supporter John Barnes used an obscure provision of the 1972 Local Government Act that obliges the parish council to carry out the request if ten members of a parish call for a vote on any subject.
Barnes said he hoped the result would lead to further polls being held across the country to put pressure on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to call a referendum.
The next village to hold a vote is expected to be Lanteglos, near Fowey, Cornwall.