Eastleigh residents vote for referendum

6:39pm Sunday 2nd March 2008

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VOTERS in Eastleigh have said they want a referendum on whether the UK should accept the controversial EU Lisbon Treaty.

Around two-thirds of residents eligible to vote were balloted by campaign group I Want A Referendum - IWAR - and some 90 per cent voted yes for a referendum.

Eastleigh was one of nine constituencies in the UK chosen for the postal ballot and had the biggest turnout in the unofficial poll with 38 per cent of people balloted returning their vote.

Maria Hutchings, prospective parliamentary candidate for Eastleigh, said the results send a clear message to the borough's Lib Dem MP Chris Huhne for when he votes in Parliament on Wednesday on whether the country should hold a referendum.

"He and the Liberal Democrats must now do the honourable thing and vote for a referendum on Wednesday," she said.

Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne criticised the ballot for only asking people a Conservative question and said he was in favour of a referendum on the Treaty but that people should have been asked whether they should stay or leave the EU.

"These results only represent 21.7 per cent of the people eligible to vote in the Eastleigh constituency.

"This was just to see if there should be a referendum on accepting the latest set of amendments to the constitution and should have also asked people if we should leave the EU," he said.