‘positive vision for the future of the EU – a future in which Britain wants, and should want, to play a committed and active part’
Currently, the EU is positive. David Cameron throwing tantrums (sic) and walking out on negotiations simply gives the perception of an arrogant Little Englander who has no sense of solidarity in the European Union. The European market is built on the social and legal basis of giving no party unfair advantage, which is why many citizens in the UK do not agree with any stance that we should opt out of discrimination legislation, or have ‘special rules’ for the City compared to the rest of the world. The rest of the world are equally successful, if not more successful. We in the UK are about to enter a triple-dip.
‘The next Conservative manifesto in 2015 will ask for a mandate from the British people for a Conservative government to negotiate a new settlement with our European partners in the next parliament.’
It is well known that the chances of a Conservative victory in June 2015 are vanishingly small. Even if you take the view they can take seats off UKIP, currently UKIP are projected to get zero seats.
‘holding an in/out referendum now would be a “false choice”
No business would willingly defer drafting up a business plan until 2017, for fear of uncertainty. This knocks dead Cameron’s “false choice”argument.
‘And when we have negotiated that new settlement, we will give the British people a referendum with a very simple in or out choice to stay in the EU on these new terms; or come out altogether. It will be an in-out referendum.’
Cameron is currently set to have bargained a referendum on Scotland as well as AV. These referenda cost millions of pounds. He never offered a referendum on the privatisation of the NHS, which is currently in progress.
‘will fail and the British people will drift towards the exit’
Currently, there is more of a question of Nick Clegg drifting towards the exit, taking his Liberal Democrat party with him. His position and that of his party, having sold out on libraries, the economy, the NHS and welfare, is irrelevant.
‘Today, public disillusionment with the EU is at an all-time high’
The ‘democratic deficit’, with laws and policies being implemented which nobody voted for, such as the privatisation of the NHS and the scandal of the fiasco of disabled benefits, means that disillusionment with the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats is at an all-time high.
‘People feel that the EU is heading in a direction that they never signed up to. They resent the interference in our national life by what they see as unnecessary rules and regulation. And they wonder what the point of it all is.’
People do not object to protection from racial discrimination, or being sacked without warning. The European Time Directive serves a purpose of stopping doctors making decisions which compromise patient safety, for example, and it is entirely up to our Government how it wishes to implement it in any case.
The European Union that emerges from the eurozone crisis is going to be a very different body’
The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have been wishing for the European economy to implode, so that it can deflect attention from their mismanagement of the economy. The UK in May 2010 had fragile growth, totally throttled by killing off UK infrastructure investment and murdering consumer demand.
‘And when we have negotiated that new settlement, we will give the British people a referendum with a very simple in or out choice to stay in the EU on these new terms; or come out altogether. It will be an in/out referendum’
It is necessary to have the precise terms of this referendum urgently, prior to any talk of the electorate deciding on the ‘yes/no’ on the basis of these terms.
‘Legislation will be drafted before the next election. And if a Conservative Government is elected we will introduce the enabling legislation immediately and pass it by the end of that year.’
As above.
‘And we will complete this negotiation and hold this referendum within the first half of the next Parliament.’
As above.
‘I believe something very deeply. That Britain’s national interest is best served in a flexible, adaptable and open European Union. And that such a European Union is best with Britain in it.’
Cameron was equally passionate about ‘no further top-down reorganisations’. It therefore does not matter at all what he believes deeply in, or not.
‘Over the coming weeks, months and years, I will not rest until this debate is won. For the future of my country. For the success of the European Union. And for the prosperity of our peoples for generations to come.’
Cameron is doing this entirely to save face in his Party. The European Union can easily continue without him, but Cameron’s political gamble will unfortunately be putting real people and their jobs at risk.
