Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Cameron and the elusive EU referendum
September 20th, 2011
Author: Richard Henley Davis
David Cameron’s decision to refuse a referendum on the EU and walk away from the wishes of the British people could be the biggest threat to his government.
No matter how he spins it, the facts remain. David Cameron promised a referendum on Europe and he has broken that promise.
Half-heartedly singing the praises of Europe whilst keeping more aggressive integration at arms length is typical of Cameron’s non-committal approach to the European Union.
But trying to con the British public into believing trade agreements and political alliances will crumble if we distance ourselves from Europe says more about his real allegiances than the occasional threat of a veto.
Actually Britain would do better from a little distance. Speaking to The Economic Voice, economist, Mark Wadsworth said:
It is highly unlikely that the UK would suffer economically by leaving the EU and concluding a free trade treaty with it, as foreseen under the Constitution (the EU has free trade treaties with most surrounding countries),
for the simple reason that they export more to us than we do to them, they have more to lose than to gain by starting a trade war.
Further, the UK economy is surprisingly closed, we produce eighty per cent of what we consume and vice versa; of the twenty per cent that we import or export, only about half is from or to other EU member states.
So only half our exports would be affected anyway; we cannot rule out that some of this would be hindered if e.g. the French ban imports
from the UK, but freed up from so many damaging regulations, our exports to the rest of the world would be comparatively more competitive
and would easily make up the gap.
By the former EU trade commissioner’s own admission, the dead weight costs of EU regulation depress the size of economies by at least
five per cent, so there is everything to play for.
The threat of Europe taking over the British democratic process comes a bit late as we are already in a democratic system where Parliament is as impotent as a neutered dog excessively medicated with oestrogen in deciding the fate of this country.
Parliament is little more than the rubber stamp for European policies seeing as 80% of our laws are now decided by the EU and this intrusion into our democratic process is the reason that Conservative MP for The Wrekin , Mark Pritchard, who is the secretary of the 1922 committee,has bravely raised his voice much to the dismay of those who are putting coalition before freedom.
Writing in The Telegraph, Pritchard caught the mood of Britain saying:
“For many Britons, the EU has already become a kind of occupying force, setting unfamiliar rules, demanding levies, curbing freedoms, subverting our culture and imposing alien taxes.”
Mr Pritchard went on to steal any thunder from the argument that our integration with Europe can be meaningfully tweaked as justification for said integration by saying:
Those who suggest the Lisbon Treaty should be ripped up and replaced with a new EU constitution, or that the eurozone’s move towards
“fiscal union” provides a major opportunity for Britain to re-negotiate her relationship with Europe, are well-meaning; but these measures would only change things at the margins and do little to arrest the EU’s democratic illegitimacy.
This response by one of the most influential Tory back-benchers is not one which is taken lightly considering the potential re-opening of the rift over Europe, which has cost the Conservatives dearly in the past.
With the threat of further defections to UKIP becoming an ever present danger as Europe descends into a democratic death spiral in the wake of demands by the EU to fund the bailouts for member states, it was a matter of time before someone with some sense in the Conservative
party drew a line in the sand.
This is much more than a shot across the bow of the front bench, this is an ultimatum.
If Cameron wants to survive another term in office then he had better pay attention to the will of the people of Britain and give us the
chance to say how European we want to be.
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