Lords and knight part of Lisbon group
Tuesday July 29 2008
The BRITISH eurosceptic group that funded the new Red C poll on the Lisbon impasse includes three Lords and one Knight of the realm, as well as Derek Scott, a former economics adviser to Tony Blair.
The Open Europe group also draws on the experience of a former leader of the House of Lords and an ex-British ambassador to the USA.
Its funding comes from like-minded millionaire business people in the UK, and it has been in operation for years, aimed at limiting the powers of Brussels over member states.
One of its directors, Nigel Smith, is a former chairman of a cross-party campaign against British joining the common currency, and in defence of the pound. He also headed a campaign which won a referendum on Scottish devolution in 1997.
Two prominent members of the Open Board have links to the oil conglomerate Shell.
The poll found that 62pc of people would vote 'No' in a second referendum, against 34pc who would vote 'Yes'.
This would be a gain of 9pc for the 'No' side, and a drop of 12pc, with Don't Knows accounting for the difference in gain/loss.
Yesterday, Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said the organisation's website provided evidence of its purpose and intentions. He cited a condemnation by Open Europe of the EU's passing of the Agency Workers Directive, giving temporary workers the same rights as permanent staff.
Meanwhile, Labour TD Joe Costello said the Red C result "indicates the extent to which there has been a further hardening of attitude against a rerun of the Lisbon Treaty.
