"Will you stop all this nonsense about it being different from the constitution, because it is plainly the same in substance, and explain why it is better not to have a referendum but have it decided in parliament. You are getting into trouble because of the deviousness and, at times, ridiculousness, of the arguments you are using."
This from Professor Steve Peers, EU law specialist:
"The different structure of the Reform Treaty (i.e. amendments to the current EC and EU Treaties) as compared to the Constitutional Treaty means that the two treaties will look quite different. However, the content, as proposed in the draft mandate is largely the same."
This from Philip Stephens, the trenchantly pro-euro FT columnist:
"The government did promise a referendum on the now defunct constitutional treaty; and, rhetoric and legal form aside, the Lisbon document is substantially the same as that rejected by the electorates of France and the Netherlands."
This from Michael Connarty, the Chairman of Parliament's independent European Scrutiny Committee:
"Every provision of the Constitutional Treaty, apart from the flags, mottos and anthems, is to be found in the new Treaty. We think that they are fundamentally the same."
There are also the usual quotations from EU leaders declaring that the EU Constitution is essentially the same as the EU Treaty. The only people willing to disagree are Gordon Brown and his increasingly discredited Party. As Diane Abbot told the BBC just after the final commons vote:
"I think that we should have a referendum because we promised one... but actually if you had a referendum it would be disastrous for the Labour Party because you would lose... Everyone knows that the Treaty is the same as the Constitution."
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