Someone takes it seriously

Monday, June 29, 2009

http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/

Someone takes it seriously

It has not gained much traction, even on this blog, but it is still a very serious issue – and so says William Ress-Mogg.

"We should be deeply concerned that panicking MPs are on the verge of throwing away their hard-won freedoms," he writes, warning that the House of Commons is in danger of cutting its own constitutional throat.

Fortunately, the Clerk of the House is trying to stop them. The clerk is Malcolm Jack, a man of scholarship and courage who is the ultimate referee on all constitutional questions which affect the Commons. His core duty is to advise the House, its Speaker, the committees and MPs on the practice and procedure of the House, and its rights.

Rees-Mogg continues with the tale, echoing our own views that, "Rushed legislation is usually a disaster, and this would be legislation in a panic." 

Unfortunately, in the present depressing climate of opinion, where MPs have eroded any sympathy they might otherwise have expected, the public is not at all concerned about the rights of Parliament. 

But, Rees-Mogg sternly tells us, "They should worry a lot. The privileges of Parliament are needed to protect the public against the raw power of the executive. That was the justification for the Bill of Rights in the 17th century, and is still the justification today."

He is dead right, of course. And that is why we are concerned and remain concerned. And if MPs do make a stand, we should support them – loathsome though many of them are. Parliament is bigger and more important than its members. And Britain needs a strong and independent and new House of Commons, adds Rees-Mogg.

He believes that would mean an early election, which we are not going to get. If instead, we get a parliamentary standards quango, we are in trouble. As the man observes, "no one needs an ipsy-dipsy quango."

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Sunday, June 28, 2009

Where Catalonia leads ...

An interesting piece and somewhat alarming piece in The Sunday Telegraphpulls together the rarely discussed issue of the EU regional policy, noting that various European separatist movements are set to welcome the expected ratification of the constitutional Lisbon treaty.

They believe that increased power for Brussels means weaker nation states and a stronger case for the regions to be given independence.

The paper offers two case studies, one dealing with Catalonia and the otherFlanders, in both of which the separatist movements see in the EU an opportunity to break away from their own national governments and re-create themselves as "independent" member states under the aegis of Brussels.

This process gets a distinct boost with the constitutional Lisbon treaty. For the first time, for instance, Regions will have direct access to the ECJ, being able to bring their own cases, having hitherto to rely on their central governments to act for them.

What we are seeing, therefore, is a continuation of a scheme that actually pre-dated the European Union and even the European Coal and Steel Community in 1952, stemming from town twinning which was conceived, in its present day form, immediately after the Second World War. The ethos then is the same as it is now – that by strengthening ties between cross-border entities, the grip of the nation states was weakened, thus reducing the prospects of war between nations.

The EU (and the EEC before it) was late into the game, with its first faltering move in 1975, creating the European Regional Development Fund, and the formation of a distinct regional policy in 198, managing a funding stream that by-passes central governments with direct payments to regional bodies.

Making up for lost time, it now encourages direct relations between the regions and Brussels, with some 300 different regions staffing offices in Brussels, dealing directly with the commission and other EU institutions. And with many of the regions boasting populations and GDPs larger than some of the EU's newer members - including Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia – the logic of "independence under Brussels" is gaining ground.

Such a movement could directly affect the United Kingdom for, if regions like Catalonia and Flanders do break away, there would be a strong precedent for Scotland, Wales and even Ulster to follow. And where they lead, could Yorkshire – or perhaps Cornwall – be far behind?

And that is the hidden threat posed by the EU. An English rump, weakened by successive EU policies and the depredations of Gordon Brown's financial management, would not have the strength to block such moves. A puppet parliament in Westminster, eager to conform as long its members expenses and pensions were paid, would raise few objections to the break-up, engineering our final subjugation to an alien power.

Nightmare scenario this may be, but that does not mean it is impossible – or even unlikely. The threat is real and Catalonia is showing the way.

COMMENT THREAD