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Patrick Wintour, chief political correspondent
Saturday August 7, 2004
The Guardian

I've only £200,000 to make case for Europe - minister

Denis MacShane, the minister charged with preparing the referendum campaign on the European constitution, has admitted he is being outgunned by the Eurosceptics, who command a war chest far in excess of his government funds.
Mr MacShane is equipped by the Foreign Office with an annual budget of only £200,000, out of which he has to pay for all information and campaigning to make the pro-European case.

That equates to just 4% of the £5m provided by government for the deputy prime minister, John Prescott, to disseminate information for the now largely postponed referendums on regional assemblies in the north of England.

It also represents only a fifth of the £1m cash given to the home secretary, David Blunkett, for advertising to clarify the government position on the declassification of cannabis.

Questioning the government's priorities, Mr Mac Shane said last night: "Compare the £200,000 available to me with the £2m that Paul Sykes chipped into the Ukip campaign for the European elections. Compare it, too, with the £1m worth of anti-European propaganda poured out daily by the rabid anti-European tabloids.

"In recent years, the British people have been fed a diet of lies and distortions about anything ranging from replacing our monarch with an EU president, the loss of our seat on the United Nations security council, or that we will not be able to run a British army. The British people are longing for facts and to put that case we need more resources."

Mr MacShane's public call for extra cash is unusual, and probably reflects anxiety that the government needs to start making the case soon for the European constitution agreed two months ago. Polls show a small majority against the constitution, but many undecided.

Eleven members of the 25-strong EU plan to hold referendums, including most of the big states apart from Germany. Tony Blair has insisted he will hold a referendum in the UK even if another country votes no before a British vote.

There have been promises of roadshows by ministers since the decision to hold a referendum, but there has been little sign of action, apart from propaganda by the hard-pressed Britain in Europe group.

Cabinet Office guidance says government advertising campaigns should be objective and explanatory, not tendentious, polemical or party political.

The government was second only to Procter & Gamble in the amount it spent on advertising in 2003, up by nearly 15% to £138m. The average growth for Britain's top advertisers was 6.4%. In the year to April 1998, the first year after Labour's return to power, the Central Office of Information spent just £59m.

Many Labour MPs think the first year of a third-term Labour government would be dominated by the referendum issue.

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