Referendum results to be announced Sunday

Voting in the Hammersmith EU Treaty referendum has now closed and the results are set to be announced by the
I Want a Referendum campaign on Sunday 2nd March.

Everybody on the open electoral register in Hammersmith - some 26,000 voters - were sent postal ballot papers at the beginning of February.

Hammersmith was one of 10 constituencies across the country which were selected to hold referendums in what has been the biggest vote on the EU since 1975.

Voters were asked two questions:

1. Should the United Kingdom hold a national referendum on the EU's Lisbon Treaty: yes or no?

2. Should the United Kingdom adopt the EU's Lisbon Treaty: yes or no?

The announcement comes at the start of the week in which MPs will finally vote on amendments to the Lisbon Treaty Bill calling for a referendum. The votes take place on Wednesday March 5th.

Check back here on Sunday for the results!

Don't forget to return your vote!

Voting closes in the Hammersmith EU referendum at noon on Wednesday 27 February.

Please use your chance to have a say! Post your ballot paper today to be sure of your vote being counted.

Major tube action launches last week of campaigning

Major tube actions and a telephone turnout session will launch the last week of campaigning in the Hammersmith EU Treaty referendum.

Activists from a range of pro-referendum organisations will be distributing leaflets at the main entrances of Hammersmith Broadway station on Monday morning, starting from 7am.

That will be followed on Monday afternoon and early evening by a second telephone 'turnout' session.

The aim will be to ensure voters have received their referendum ballot papers, to remind them to cast their vote, or advise how to get a ballot paper if they haven't already received one.

The session will start at 4pm and go on until 8:30pm in the evening. We need as many people as possible to staff the phones during these hours, as we have a lot of calls to get through.

If you are able to come and join in, please call Stuart (Democracy Movement) on 07966 178806 saying at what time you'll be able to come and how long you will be able to stay for. Even just half an hour would be extremely helpful.

Tuesday morning will see another leaflet distribution session at Hammersmith Broadway tube and also one at Ravenscourt Park underground station - once again both starting at 7am.

On Wednesday, leafleting will take place outside Stamford Brook underground station from 7am.

Please join in with these activities if you can! Let's make this a show of public opinion in support of the promised referendum that Andrew Slaughter and the Government will find impossible to ignore.

Mass telephone session aims to boost referendum turnout

The Hammersmith referendum campaign is holding a mass telephone 'turnout' session from 4:00pm today, going on until 8:30pm in the evening.

The aim is to ensure voters have received their referendum ballot papers, to remind them to cast their vote, or advise how to get a ballot paper if they haven't already received one.

We need as many people as possible to staff the phones during these hours, as we have a lot of calls to get through and the bank of phones that have been made available to us must be in use at all times.

If you are able to come and join in, please send an e-mail to coster@democracymovement.org.uk or call Stuart on 07966 178806 saying at what time you'll be able to come and how long you will be able to stay for.

Even just half an hour would be extremely helpful. Hope to see you there!

Slaughter involves police in effort to block treaty vote

As if the police didn't have enough to do tackling local crime!

Now it seems they have to devote resources to dealing with an attempt by local MP Andrew Slaughter to block our referendum.

Let's not forget; this referendum is on an issue that Andrew Slaughter himself promised at the last general election that voters would be consulted about!

According to Greg Hands MP, writing on another blog, Slaughter has reported the I Want a Referendum (IWR) campaign to the Metropolitan Police for breaching the Political Parties Elections & Referendums Act (PPERA).

Purportedly, the complaint relates to the information that should be printed on referendum literature, which could mean it rests on section 126: "Details to appear on referendum material".

If so, Slaughter probably shouldn't have skipped straight to the part of the Act that he thought suited him, perhaps blinded by his evident fury over the initiative. Or he might have first seen section 101 - "Referendums to which this Part [of the Act] applies".

Paragraph (2) (a) of this section states ... "“referendum” means a referendum or other poll held, in pursuance of any provision made by or under an Act of Parliament ..."

The Hammersmith referendum is not being held as a result of an Act of Parliament, but held independently, funded by the IWR campaign. So it seems quite clear that the initiative falls outside the stipulations of the PPERA.

In any case, there's no question whatsoever over who is running the referendum. The literature is clearly marked with the I Want A Referendum campaign logo / web address, so anyone who wishes to see the cross-party support behind the group can check for themselves.

So why doesn't Andrew Slaughter stop wasting people's time in a desperate attempt to prevent local voters being consulted, and simply honour the promise to support a national referendum that he made at the last general election?

Don't forget to cast your vote in the Hammersmith referendum by 25 February, and send him that message!

Referendum campaigning continues apace

Significant progress is being made with the distribution of referendum leaflets throughout Hammersmith.

We'd like to say a huge 'thank you' to everyone who is participating and giving up so much of their time for this campaign!

We can already see the effect it's having on the promise-breaking, anti-referendum MP we're targetting - Andrew Slaughter.

But there's still much more to do to help raise the profile of the event and to ensure everyone uses their opportunity to vote.

There are many more activities planned for over the weekend and into next week - details below. Please join in if you can!

Please check back here before departing for any meet-up, for any timing or other changes.

Saturday 9th
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Leafleting:
- Hammersmith Broadway (North), 10:30am (meeting at the corner of Brackenbury Rd and Aldensley Rd - see map)

- Hammersmith Broadway (South), 11:45am (meeting outside the Colton Arms pub, Greyhound Road - see map)

Monday 11th
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Tube Action:
- Hammersmith Broadway - from 7:00 am

Leafleting:
- Askew, 6:30pm (meet outside Allied Carpets, corner of Goldhawk Road and Askew Road - see map)

- Hammersmith Broadway (South), 7:00pm (meet outside the Colton Arms pub, Greyhound Road - see map)

Tuesday 12th
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Tube Action:
- Barons Court - from 7:00 am

Leafleting:
- Addison, 12:00 midday (meeting outside the Bird in Hand pub, corner of Milson Road and Masbro Road - see map)

- Brook Green / Avonmore, 6:45pm (meeting at the Old Parrs Head pub, corner of Masbro Road and Blythe Road - see map).

- Hammersmith Broadway (South), 7:00pm (meet outside the Colton Arms pub, Greyhound Road - see map)

Wednesday 13th
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Mass telephone 'turnout' session from 4:00 pm (meet details tbc). We need as many people as possible as the bank of phones that have been made available to us must be in use at all times.

If you are able to come, please send an e-mail to coster@democracymovement.org.uk saying how long you will be able to stay for. Even half an hour would be extremely helpful!

Slaughter's fury over referendum campaign

Local MP Andrew Slaughter has reacted angrily to the Hammersmith referendum campaign, flying off the handle at I Want a Referendum chairman Derek Scott during a BBC radio interview.

Clearly irritated that his promise-breaking plans are being highlighted to local voters so effectively, Slaughter cheekily accused Mr Scott of fronting a "dishonest" marketing exercise and of playing party politics.

Yet Mr Slaughter somehow managed to overlook his own blatant dishonesty, in claiming the Lisbon Treaty is 'significantly different' to the EU Constitution, on which he promised to support a referendum.

In response, Mr Scott - a Labour supporting former adviser to Tony Blair - pointed out that the I Want a Referendum campaign has support from across the political spectrum, and has Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs on its advisory board as well as Conservatives.

Hitting back at Mr Slaughter, Scott said: "You may get away with this twisting in the House of Commons but I think people out there actually realise what you are trying to do."

According to well-informed political blogger, Guido Fawkes, the debate became rather more heated than the BBC even dared to report. He claims that the presenter of the BBC programme, Mark Darcy, told Scott he had never seen anything like it in his career.

Hear the (sanitised!) exchanges between Derek Scott and Andrew Slaughter on Today in Parliament on BBC Radio 4 at 2330 GMT on Friday, 8 February or download the podcast from the Radio 4 website.