Predictably, the first advert for the forthcoming 2009 European Parliamentary elections appeared on tv screens in the UK last night. The advert was quite slick, as one would expect given the almost unlimited funding, and talked a lot about democracy and how our votes would make a real difference. What it didn't mention is that the Irish recently demonstrated how their votes could make a real difference and threw out the Lisbon Treaty. The EU Commission subsequently told the Irish that they had voted the wrong way and would have to do it all again! So much for democracy. Faced with this sort of blatant intimidation that has been visited by the EU Commission on EU citizens, I cannot really bring myself to cast a vote that will only give EU bureaucrats and MEP's some sort of claim to legitimacy and accountability to the electorate. A more realistic EU election slogan would be "Your vote is meaningless but it does keep the Brussels gravy train rolling along". Anyway, I read today that the Tories, should they win the next general election, are pledging to kick the Lisbon Treaty into touch but we all know what happens to election pledges! Didn't Labour once promise a referendum on this Treaty?