News and Comment (01/01/2004 - present)


Index to News and Comment


Unbelievable but true

The latest insanities to emanate from Brussels take some believing. Unfortunately they are true.

These bureaucratic maniacs have now produced a regulation ordering that, if there are puddles of water anywhere in a field more than 60 feet from a gate then it is illegal to enter that field with any machinery, including tractors. One Cornish farmer has described this as 'farcical, unethical and unacceptable' but our gutless government has just accepted this latest madness without question.

Of course the real reason for this is that the EU want to make it impossible for farmers to claim any subsidies, as failure to obey every one of their idiotic regulations means that one loses any payments due under the Common Agricultural Policy. So our farmers can go hang while the EU uses the money to bribe the farmers of 'applicant countries' to make sure that even more people fall into the power of these Brussels fascists.

On another front the arrogance of the dictators of the EU in making all their creatures, including the police, immune from prosecution, has led to the people of northern Holland being exposed to nuclear waste at the Euratom centre at Zijpe for, when action was proposed against these polluters, the Dutch were horrified to find that the plant enjoyed the legal immunity common to all European commission establishments. They can therefore poison thousands of Dutch citizens if they choose and nothing can be done about it.

Those idiots who always insist that we must have the EU to protect the environment 'as no single country can do so' might perhaps wish to re-examine their position in the light of this outrage.

We must be insane to stay with this mad hatter's tea party of an organisation. Of course we will all the time the political class has any say in the matter.

26/12/2004


Cowardly hypocrites

When the European Parliament voted last week to adopt biometric passports it did not include the UK, as we are not party to the Schengen agreement. Nevertheless the British government specifically requested that Britain be included, in order that these cowardly hypocrites could hide behind the excuse that they had to introduce ID cards because Brussels had ordered it.

The EU did not agree to this request, not for any democratic reason, but because it wants to force the UK to sign up to Schengen.

That the government of the UK is run by people like this is a disgrace. They have no concept of democracy but only care about advancing their own self interest. The abdication of responsibilty they seek would enable them to continue to draw their inflated salaries while handing all power to Brussels. They are beneath contempt.

23/12/2004


Knaves or Fools?

Christopher Booker has pointed out that those in politics and the media who should know just how far the government of this country has been taken over by Brussels are either stupid and ill informed or they are part of a deliberate attempt to cover up the truth. The examples he gives are frightening:

  1. The Daily Telegraph place the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the lead for their award for 'the most mind-bogglingly frustrating piece of red tape put forward in 2004'. Every one of the edicts they mention emanates from Brussels

  2. Boris Johnson castigates the Government for the new regulation which makes it a criminal offence for us to carry out electrical work in our homes without council permission. This edict comes from Brussels

  3. Germaine Greer savaged the Home Office for insisting that Australians pay £250 for a previously free special stamp in their passports which allow them to remain in the UK indefinitely. The Home Office is obliged to do this as a result of EU Council Regulation 1030/2002

These people, including MPs and those who lecture us daily on our shortcomings, must either be knaves who know very well that the EU is to blame, or fools or refuse to acquaint themselves with the facts before laying down the law.

Is it any surprise that the Europhiles have succeeded as well as they have when the chattering classes are either unwilling or incapable of recognizing the truth if it was served up to them on a plate.

20/12/2004


Rewriting history

Thanks to furious opposition from some within the European Parliament the Commission has agreed to withdraw a so called history book they had approved, which was supposed to educate children about Europe. Incredibly this book did not contain any reference to the involvement of the UK in World War I or World War II.

We are used to the lies emanating from the European institutions but once again we can see that, not content with distorting the present, they wish to rewrite the past. It is inconvenient for the Franco German Axis that memories of the fact that the British played a pivotal role in saving the World from German agression in the wars of the 20th century should cast a shadow on their cosy little alliance so they just try to adjust the history books to suit themselves, ignoring the insults to the hundreds of thousands of British dead who saved civilisation by their defeat of the militarists.

This should be a warning to the British people that, if we lose the current Battle of Britain to the Europhiles, our descendants will think we lost the one in 1940 as well - at least that is what their history books will tell them.

20/12/2004


What a surprise

The EU commission is very annoyed with the Greeks for having deceived them as to their economic situation in order to gain membership of the Euro. It appears that the figures they supplied about public debt were at variance with tyhe truth.

That the poor old Greeks should be criticised is laughable, given that a number of the larger, and older members of the EU, also fiddled their accounts in order to met the requirements.

Ironically, all it has gained for Greece is membership of an economic experiment which most responsible commentators now agree is in deep trouble as the falling American dollar prices the Europeans out of one of their major markets.

It is however no surprise that the Commission will take no action against its erring partner, the Greek political class.

08/12/2004


Disaster is looming

In an editorial today the Sunday Times warns of the fate that awaits this country unless we rapidly change course.

Next year China will overtake Britain's gross domestic product and she will become the world's largest economy by the middle of the century. India is also making vast strides and by the same date she will join China and America as the biggest economies, eclipsing the decaying European Union.

How can we survive, as we stand by and watch the destruction of our manufacturing sector and yet, with a failing education system, unable to compete with the new superpowers in the skilled sectors of production. China and India produce 125,000 computer science graduates every year, in comparison with 5,000 in Britain and their education systems emphasise the excellence in which we once took pride but which has now been replaced by a worship of non subjects such as Sociology and where some of our so called universities think it right to drop such vital subjects as Chemistry in order to churn out yet more useless degrees in the 'humanist' field.

Our self interested and incompetent political class is presiding over the precipitate decline of the nation, their only idea being that we should tie ourselves irrevocably to the EU, at a time when that organisation is heading for disaster. The demographics of the EU ensure that, as a whole, her population will continue to age and decline, her economic policies will prevent any hope of competing against the new powers and the replacing of democracy by the rule of arrogant bureaucrats will only hasten her final collapse.

The EU offers, at least in the short term, advantages to lawyers, bureaucrats, politicians and other non productive sectors of the nation, while ensuring that those whose efforts create the wealth upon which we must live, who form by far the majority of the working population, face a bleak future. It is our tragedy that those who control the levers of power are the only ones to benefit from EU membership and so we continue down a road which is leading to disaster. Their cheerleaders in the media, in particular the BBC, come from the same parasitic class, who devotion to political correctness and the values of the so called 'intellectuals' are destructive of any hope that Britain can turn back to the only path that can save her. Of course, once the economic destruction of this country is complete all their idiot schemes will fall but it will then be too late for the ordinary people

The world does not owe Britain a living and those who prefer to concern themselves with the activities of moronic celebrities and meaningless sporting events will one day have to confront the results of their inattention to the things that matter. As the Sunday Times concludes, "the economies that will meet the global challenge will be flexible with small spending governments. Britain, sadly and avoidably, is heading in the wrong direction".

Unless we wake up, leave the EU, ignore the 'intellectuals' who, as Attlee said, "are always wrong", abandon the idiot policies of the political correct and restore a pride in education and wealth creation then this country is doomed. Our children will grow up in an impoverished backwater of a failed continent and there will be no hope for the future. If the politicians have their way it will also be a nation where everyone is under CCTV surveillance continually, where they will have to carry ID cards to account for themselves to the arrogant bureaucrats who will control their lives and where those in power have no regard for truth and can convince themselves that they are right, even when they are frequently called upon to reverse their positions at the behest of their party leaders. How different will this be to Orwell's world of 1984?

We can reverse the process but we must do it now.

28/11/2004


Same old Tories

While those who oppose UK membership of the European Union must feel some satisfaction at the tone now being adopted by the Conservative party on the issue it is necessary to be aware that Mr Howard is, contrary to his statements about being held to account, promising more than he will be able to deliver. It is very welcome that a Conservative government would oppose both the single currency and the EU constitution but renegotiation of the Common Fishing Policy or the Social Chapter must rely, in the final analysis, upon Britain being prepared to withdraw from the EU, something which Mr Howard has specifically ruled out.

Unless the Conservatives are willing to grasp this nettle their pronouncements on making fundamental changes to policies, changes which would require the consent of all other EU members, must be regarded as nothing more than hot air.

That this should be so is no surprise as the members of the political establishment have a personal interest in preserving the EU as the source of lucrative jobs for themselves and it takes a special sort of honest politician to reject all the possibilities they can see for gain and to put the interests of the nation first. These there are in all the major parties but none of them actually determine the policy of their party.

Eurorealists who still believe the Conservative party's protestations regarding saving the nation from the dictators of Brussels are like women who, despite being repeatedly beaten up by their husbands, keep returning to him when he promises that he has reformed, only to be disappointed again.

It bears repeating - we cannot reform or withdraw from the Common Fishing Policy unless we are prepared to leave the EU. If anyone rules out the latter then they cannot deliver the former. It is better for Eurorealists to support those democrats who are unequivocal in their wish to leave the EU, whether they be Labour, Tory or whatever, rather than fall for the promise that a vote for the Tory party is some sort of vote for freedom from Brussels.

10/10/2004


Cultural wars

Marc Glendening has written an excellent article in which he warns of the need for the Eurorealists movement to guard against being damaged by those well meaning, but politically naive, people whose activities risk branding us all as nothing more than reactionaries, rather than the reality of good people from across the democratic spectrum.

18/09/2004


"Independence" - Summer 2004

The new edition of "Independence" is now on the website. It contains a chilling account of the future planned for the EU by the federalists, including the subverting of a free media

12/09/2004


Not in my name

At a time when the Russian people are suffering terribly from the merciless acts of terrorists directed at their children the EU shows once again what a loathsome organisation it is. To their credit George Bush and Tony Blair immediately expressed deep sorrow and gave their support to the Russian government and people. On the other hand the Dutch foreign minister, purporting to speak for the EU, merely asked the Russian government for an explanation of what happened, thus implying that that government, and not the terrorists, were to blame for the disgusting massacre.

How much longer are we to remain a member of this vile club, faced with statements being made on our behalf by those who chose to place blame on the victims, rather than the perpetrators of such outrages. Our cowardly politicians may have handed their consciences over to an alien body but for millions of us the answer must be Not in my name

09/09/2004


Freedom of speech is becoming a joke

Those who believe that we have freedom of speech in Britain have clearly never tried to organise stalls for the Democracy Movement on our high streets. At a time when we know a referendum on the EU constitution is coming the Eurorealist movement finds itself obstructed at every turn by those who seek to prevent anything but the views of the political class being presented to the general public.

Recently a local branch of the DM sought permission from the managers of a retail park in Thamesmead to set up a stall and hand out leaflets on the constitution. This permission was granted and it was arranged that nineteen volunteers would man the stall. However on the afternoon preceding the day a person from the owners of the retail park rang to say that permission was withdrawn and that, if the DM helpers turned up "they would be removed".

Quite how this person intended law abiding people would be "removed" one does not know but the fact is that the DM organiser had to spend hours cancelling all the arrangements. All these petty dictators had to say when approached by the press as to why they had done this was "there had been a breakdown in communications between the owners and the managers". As Private Eye would say "That's all right then"!

Almost at the same time a supermarket chain refused permission for a stall in their vicinity on the grounds that the DM was "controversial". It is nice to know that a desire to preserve the hard won democracy of this country is "controversial".

These are just two examples of many. Wherever the local council can use its influence, or some ignorant jobsworth can exercise a little power, we find obstacles to informing the people of the truth about the EU. We are not raving fascists or class warriors seeking to stir up trouble, merely concerned citizens trying to ensure that the debate on the EU constitution is as informed as possible.

If anyone tells you that we have freedom of speech in this country you can tell them that we do as long as what we have to say is approved of by the political class, otherwise forget it.

29/08/2004


EU Regionalisation now threatens your life

How many people are aware that the government intends to impose regionalisation on the fire control system, against the clear advice of those who bear the responsibility for saving lives, the firemen themselves. If implemented the entire south east area, covering eight million people, will have only one control centre, in Guildford. In addition emergency calls to 999 will involve pressing further numbers on the telephone, such as 1 to indicate fire, then 2 to indicate car etc.

The likely effect of call queuing leading to delays and of the loss of local accountability will lead to an increasing risk to public safety, one ex Chief Fire officer in Kent stating that it will certainly cost lives.

The underlying reason for these changes is the drive by the politicians to force the regionalisation of the UK in accordance with the wishes of the European Union and we shall see similar actions taken in relation to other major public services. The intention is that the Europe of the Regions will eventually report to Brussels, finally rendering the parliament at Westminster redundant.

Anyone concerned with the safety of British citizens should resist these changes, writing to their MPs and councillors to express their opposition.

22/08/2004


A Cost too Far?

CIB vice chairman Lord Pearson of Rannoch has arranged for the new booklet by Ian Milne, entitled A Cost too Far? to be distributed to MPs, union leaders etc. This booklet rebuts the lie put about by the Europhiles that 60% of our trade and 3 million jobs depend on our membership of the EU.

The truth, as this booklet reveals, is that no trade or jobs would be lost. We would save about £40 billion per annum by leaving. When one remembers that our entire defence budget is £25 billion per annum and the cost of our railways is a mere £3.5 billion per annum one can see that throwing off the shackles of Brussels would open up enormous opportunities for the British people

Indeed Lord Pearson now feels that he has been too modest. Far from not losing jobs and trade, freedom from the EU would actually produce more of both.

The foreword is by Lord Weatherill, Speaker of the Commons for nine years, and the this booklet provides what the politicians have been too afraid to offer, a full analysis of the net economic costs and benefits of EU membership for the UK.

This booklet is obtainable from The Institute for the Study of Civil Society at a cost of £8.50. The reference number is ISBN 1-903 386-37 3 and the email address books@civitas.org.uk.

The information contained in this booklet provides perfect ammunition to Eurorealists when faced with the lies of the Europhiles. If the British people ignore this warning they will see their prosperity and democracy destroyed. As Lord Pearson reminds us "Those whom the Gods wish to destroy..."

23/07/2004


Warning Signs

As the British media concentrates on the Butler report some things are happening in the EU which should alert us to dangers to come.

That misnamed entity, the European Court of Justice, has shown that it is in fact just the creature of the European Commission, and nothing more than the legal enforcer of federalism, in deciding that the Council of Ministers had no right to ignore the breaking of the Stability and Growth Pact by France and Germany. How much more arrogant and heavy handed would this so called court be were it to be given the enhanced powers contained within the proposed European Constitution.

Despite this result the movers and shakers of the EU accept that absolutely no action will be taken against the two countries involved. This proves that there is one law for them, and another for the rest, within the Franco-German scam called the EU.

At the same time we learn that plots are afoot to deprive the UK of the rebate obtained by Mrs Thatcher back in 1984. The idea is that we should pay billions more in order that France can continue to subsidise its allotment holders. This could be stopped by the British government just saying No but, of course, our political class would not want to offend their fellow members of the elite would they.

If we have any sense we would recognize that the wind blows in one direction only within the EU and get out now

14/07/2004


Dead Sheep bleating

Those determined to force metrication on the British people are complaining that their wishes are not being complied with quickly enough. One of them, a certain Geoffrey Howe, says that, as imperial measurements have not been taught in school for years, then it is necessary that metrication be completed. He does not seem to realise that, by that argument, we should never have introduced metric measurements in the first place, as none of us had been taught them, nor did, or do, the vast majority want them.

One must question just how people like this can claim to be Conservatives, as they do not appear to want to conserve anything and wish to change everything, whether or not the people wish for the changes.

09/07/2004


What a surprise!

The leadership of the Conservative Party are said to be concerned that their position in the polls has fallen back, after a period when they seemed to be catching up with New Labour. They are also worried that support for Michael Howard personally is declining after his honeymoon period as leader.

Well, what a surprise! Or rather not. The statements made by Mr Howard and his colleagues following the European elections show that they have learnt nothing from the results, as they still insist that the Conservative Party is committed to UK membership of the EU and persist in their ludicrous claims that they could renegotiate our position within the latter, without the need to withdraw, or even the threat of withdrawal.

The Conservative Party's troubles are deep and long seated. When, in the 1960s, the Heathite tendency decided, by embracing the European project, to place the interests of professional politicians ahead of those of the ordinary party members, and indeed of the British people, they consciously cut themselves off from their grassroots. As anyone with any sense knows, if you cut a tree's roots it will die, even if it takes some while to so do. The Conservatives deserted their natural supporters and they now find that those supporters are deserting them, tired of the constant pretence that the party leadership will reverse the way in which the UK is moving from being an independent nation to a province of the United States of Europe. Inertia will probably preserve the Tory Party for a good many years yet but their chances of winning power do not look bright.

New Labour has also deserted its natural supporters, preferring the chattering classes of Hampstead to the working classes who created and nurtured the party, but as yet it has not felt the long term effects of this betrayal.

The reality is that the political class no longer believes in anything but the pursuit of their own interest, the very reason why they are so keen on the EU, the best job development scheme they have ever found. Perhaps the rejection of the main parties we saw last month is the first indication that eventually the electorate will turn to those who do possess principles and who do not regard membership of the EU as essential to this nation's wellbeing.

If the Tories want to improve their poll ratings it is time that they recognized the truth about the EU and changed their policies accordingly.

08/07/2004


The European Union is run by crooks

Any naive idiot who believes that the European Union is not a sink of corruption should consider the cases of three officials of the European Court of Auditors, who have either been sacked or medically retired when they dared to raise the issue:

Having seen how great was the corruption in the EU Mr Watt asked the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee to investigate but received a pathetic brush off from the Tory chairman.

It is obvious that the European Union is an institutionally corrupt organisation and that the political class, both at home and abroad, has no intention of remedying the situation. The only way the British people can avoid paying their money to support the crooks of Brussels is for the UK to leave the EU.

24/06/2004


It's up to you now

So now we know for certain. The political class will put their self interest and seats on the gravy train ahead of anything else, including the democratic rights of those they so arrogantly claim to represent.

We can see that the leaderships of the main parties are determined to press ahead with European integration and intend signing up to a European constitution. The Conservatives may claim to be opposed but their refusal to accept that the only way to avoid becoming a province of the United States of Europe is to leave the EU means that their statements are just hot air. The other members will not agree to their demands for renegotiating the CFP etc so they will be unable to deliver on any promises made.

These therefore leaves the matter up to us. If we are to defeat these selfish elitists we must do some, or all, of the following:

Those who wish to see the back of the EU in this country far outnumber those who wish to remain a member. We must now all work hard to defeat the political elite and save our country. No one else will do it for us.

20/06/2004


Rag of the Year

The Independent, the house journal of the chattering classes, likes to describe itself as the "Newspaper of the Year", but it would be better named "Rag of the Year". Today it dedicates its front page to repeating the myths and outright lies that are constantly repeated by the Europhiles in orderr to attempt to frighten the British people into refusing to leave the European Union.

It is of course as pointless writing to this so called newspaper as it would have been attempting to point out to Dr Goebbels the falsehoods emanating from his Ministry of Propaganda. However we can ensure that we are ready to tell the people the truth at every opportunity and, in order to help with this an aide memoir is available here

16/06/2004


Arrogant, selfish and mendacious

Nothing more truly illustrates the arrogance of the British political class, and their ruthless determination to place their own interests before those of the people they claim to represent, than the statements by the main party leaders that they will not change their policies in relation to the EU, despite the results of last week's elections.

This refusal to face reality is compounded by claims that those who oppose UK membership of the EU are extremists. It is not extreme to prefer rule by elective democracy to that by bureaucratic fiat, to wish to prevent our system of Common Law being replaced by the Code Napoleon, or to desire to preserve our prosperity by ending the flood of regulations emanating from Brussels which are undermining our competitive position in the world.

Now that the forces of British independence are at last on the march the political class must listen to the voice of the people or they will assuredly end up in the dustbin of history.

15/06/2004


Another lunatic EU directive

EU directive 93/623 and commission decision 2000/68 demand that all equines and asinines (horses and donkeys to normal people) must be given a "life number" and a passport, showing details of its parents and any drugs it has been given. This passport will cost £20 for each animal and is supposed to protect those who eat horsemeat from the ill effects of any drugs which may have been administered to them.

In the UK horsemeat is not generally eaten and an act of 1937 forbids the export of horses for human consumption so this directive is totally irrelevant to this country. However the dictators of Brussels insist that harmonisation must rule so You will obey!

Of course the Europhiliac idiots and traitors who run this country are not prepared to tell Brussels to take a jump and always enforce these lunatic regulations with even greater force than happens elsewhere in the EU. In France and Germany they are only insisting on passports for those horses taking part in competitions but the incompetents of DEFRA who, as MAFF, gave us the funeral pyres of the foot and mouth debacle, have produced regulations which will mean that, by next March, every British horse and donkey must have a passport or else the owner will be guilty of a criminal offence, punishable by a fine of £5000. Can one imagine what this will do to those animal sanctuaries which offer hope to abandoned animals? The one at Sidmouth looks after over 8,000 donkeys - can any charity afford to pay £20 per head for these useless pieces of paper?

Animal lovers should note that this latest farce will, for the first time, make it legal to export thousands of British horses to be eaten on the Continent.

How much longer must we tolerate this stream of insane regulations, produced by the corrupt institutions of the EU and gold plated by the jobsworths of Whitehall? The only way to stem the tide is to leave the EU and repeal every last law that they have foisted upon us. It can be done - it merely requires the will to do it.

13/06/2004


Running scared

As it looks increasingly more likely that the electorate intend giving the three main parties a bloody nose on Thursday so those parties show how rattled they are by their pronouncements on the European issue.

Of course the Liberal Democrats remain true to their almost religious worship of Brussels but then, as Attlee said of a different group, intellectuals, "ignore them, they are always wrong". Not of course that the Liberal Democrats can claim to be intellectual.

The Conservatives persist in their idiotic mantra about changing the EU from within. This ignores the fact that the architects of the single European state are not about to drop their plans in order to please Mr Howard, just when final victory seems within their grasp. The fact that the Conservative leader insisted upon his MEPs remaining within a pro federalist group within the European Parliament indicates that his so called Euroscepticism may not even be skin deep.

The Labour Party leadership sticks to the fairy tale about the EU being good for Britain, in the face of all the facts. Mr Blair, in his best "trust me, would I steer you wrong" mode, claims that the British people have benefited immensely from EU membership, despite the fact that neither his party, nor the Conservatives when in power, would commission a cost benefit analysis of the aforesaid membership. We all know why. It would show that the only beneficiaries have been the political and bureaucratic establishment and that for the ordinary person it has been a disaster.

The CIB, as a cross party organisation, does not endorse any one party but it would be sensible for those who believe in a free and independent Britain, and intend to vote on Thursday, to support those who wish to see an end to the tyranny of Brussels. There are a number of democratic parties with such an agenda, catering for a variety of political positions. Whatever individuals choose it will be good to see the political elite given a wake up call concerning the feelings of the people on the vile organisation based in Brussels.

08/06/2004


Who are the Extremists?

Today's attempts by politicians from the three largest parties to portray those opposed to UK membership of the EU as extremists are laughable given the facts. Unbiased academic analysis reveals that the first three decades of EU membership alone cost the UK in budgetary contributions, the ERM debacle, the Maastricht convergence criteria and the cumulative trade deficit a total of £255 billion. To this must be added the burdens of the Common Fisheries and Common Agricultural Policies and vast losses of manufacturing jobs and world markets caused by the distortions to our economy of implementing EU regulations. This economic disaster has been accompanied by a corresponding devastation of our democratic rights as power passes inexorably from elected politicians to bureaucrats.

In this new century there is no question to which the EU could conceivably be the answer yet our political establishment remains wedded to this shibboleth. It is they who are the extremists, prepared to sacrifice everything to an anachronistic concept of an integrated Europe and those who look to Britain's future as a prosperous, self governing nation who are the true mainstream.

31/05/2004


Towards a new European Enlightenment

Marc Glendening, Campaign Director of the Democracy Movement, has produced a truly excellent article concerning the essential imperative to defend civil liberties against the emerging European Union State. Please click here to read this forensic demolition of the claims that the European represents any sort of democratic future for the Continent.

27/05/2004


One Rule For Them

In today's Sunday Telegraph Christopher Booker points out that once again within the EU one rule is applied to the French and the Germans and another to the rest of us. The dictators of the European Commission last week approved a subsidy of £2 billion to the German coal industry as "compatible with the single market", thus enabling German collieries to finish the job of destroying the British coal industry. They are also almost certain to approve another £2 billion subsidy to Alstom, the French company which used state aid to build the QM2, thus ensuring that our shipyards could not compete, this approval following on the heels of that already given to Air France and the French company, Bull.

However the Commission takes quite a different view of the modest public funds which back a livestock improvement scheme in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, which has run since 1897 and which helps small farmers in remote areas. This, the Brussels Gestapo have decreed is "in breach of state aid rules" and must be stopped.

Clearly the Commission is in the hands of those who can provide them with the perks that they so enjoy and they will always bow the knee to France and Germany. However why do we put up with it? The answer as always is that our political class are so desperate to protect their own benefits and seats on the gravy train that they would sell their own grandmothers, let alone a few Scottish crofters. They are a disgrace to this country.

23/05/2004


Our Partners?

Once again we see how nonsensical is the claim by Europhiles that the other members of the EU are 'Our Partners'. Spain is attempting to bully the people of Gibraltar by denying access to Spanish ports for any cruise ships which have visited the Rock. This action is being helped by the supine reaction of some cruise companies who, rather than resisting the aggressor choose to punish the victim by announcing that they will therefore by-pass Gibraltar. If they were to take the contrary view then, once those dependent on the tourist trade in Spain became aware that thousands of potential customers were sailing past their shores, they would quickly raise a howl of protest in Madrid.

As the Spanish are claiming that all this is permitted by 'EU law' the question once again must be "Why do we stay in this vile organisation which is so contrary to our interests?". Of course the answer is "Because it is in the self interest of our political class"

19/05/2004


Give thanks for the House of Lords

Shown below are some of the exchanges which took place in the House of Lords this month on the issue of the European Union. Anyone reading them and seeing how valiantly our champions Stoddart, Pearson, Willoughby and others fight for this nation should be grateful for their efforts and oppose those who think that the Commons, run by Europhiles, should have the right to destroy this last bastion of our democracy.

Hansard 10 May 2004

European Union Legislation

Lord Lamont of Lerwick: What proportion of legislation put before Parliament in recent years has originated from the European Union?

The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Amos):My Lords, figures are not held centrally for all legislation. About half of all legislation with a significant impact on business, charities or the voluntary sector is introduced to implement European Union decisions with the proportion varying considerably from one policy area to another.

Lord Lamont: My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness the Leader of the House for that reply which is slightly different from that on the Cabinet Office web site which states that 50 per cent of all major legislation starts in the EU. Is it not a remarkable admission that 50 per cent of major laws-and presumably an even higher proportion of minor laws-are made in the EU? Does the Minister agree that the relevant figure might become 60 or 70 per cent in a few years' time? Given that much EU legislation cannot be amended and cannot in practice be rejected by Parliament, how can it seriously be disputed that parliamentary proceedings are increasingly becoming a charade, and that because so much legislation is coming from Europe, the EU is acquiring the characteristics of a government?

Baroness Amos: My Lords, the noble Lord will not be surprised to hear that I do not agree with him. As regards the degree to which the legislation of individual departments comes from the European Union, the position in December of last year with respect to the Home Office, for example, was the following. During the 2002-03 Session it sponsored five Bills of approximately 868 pages. One of the Bills predominantly implemented EU requirements, another partially implemented EU requirements. The situation differs depending on the department. The 55 per cent figure related to Defra. The figures were very different for other departments. With respect to the noble Lord's point about amending or rejecting EU legislation, he will know that significant negotiation is conducted by our Ministers and others, usually in Brussels, before we reach the point where we agree anything.

Lord Barnett: My Lords, how many of the regulations to which the noble Lord, Lord Lamont, referred stem from the Maastricht Treaty to which he gave such strong support? As an alternative to the suggestions that he made, has my noble friend had any serious proposals to amend the present situation other than that Britain should leave the European Union?

Baroness Amos: My Lords, my noble friend is, of course, quite right in the sense that the party opposite negotiated the Maastricht Treaty. A significant proportion of regulations came out of that treaty. With respect to the current proposals for a constitutional treaty, our proposal is to negotiate because we believe that Britain's role is at the heart of Europe. So far as I understand it, the alternative being offered by the Leader of the Opposition is withdrawal from Europe.

Lord Howell of Guildford: My Lords, following the perfectly proper question of the noble Lord, Lord Barnett, will the noble Baroness the Leader of the House at least reassure us that in the current negotiations the Government really will support proper blocking powers for national Parliaments against inappropriate and excessive EU legislation; in ther words, that they will adopt the red card and will not let us down on this matter as well as on some of the other red lines which they claim to defend?

Baroness Amos: My Lords, I do not know to what the noble Lord refers when he says that we have let ourselves down with respect to any red lines. The Government published a White Paper in which they made clear our red lines. My right honourable friends the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister have made it absolutely clear that those red lines will remain. We have been absolutely clear about the areas where we see some extension of qualified majority voting and those areas which have to retain unanimity.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: My Lords, does the Minister accept the figures regarding the percentage of British legislation that is shaped by international obligations such as those under the World Trade Organisation, the United Nations or other international and UN agencies? Does she further accept that even if Britain were to leave the EU, we would still be bound in our domestic legislation by a whole series of international obligations of this kind and that the experience of the one administration that has set out to declare that it is outside and above international law - the Bush administration has not been entirely happy in disregarding its obligations under international law?

Baroness Amos: My Lords, the noble Lord makes a very important point. Of course, a great deal of our legislation is shaped and influenced by international obligations that go beyond the European Union. One of the difficulties in answering this Question is that when you begin to look at the shaping and influencing of legislation, it is sometimes much more difficult to pin down than is suggested by the way in which the Question is framed. The noble Lord is right to draw our attention to the fact that even if this country were to leave the European Union, which, of course, I and my party do not want to see, we would remain bound by some of its provisions.

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: My Lords, will the Government now consider collecting these figures centrally? If they are not collected centrally, how are we to have an intelligent argument about what influence the European Union has on our legislation? My second question is the following. Since most of this legislation is automatically translated into British legislation, is there any longer a need for a House of Commons of 659 Members and a House of Lords of nearly 700 Members?

Baroness Amos: My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Stoddart of Swindon is, as usual, robust. With regard to collecting that information centrally, individual departments keep the information on the proportion of legislation that is introduced to implement EU decisions. It would be helpful if I reiterate the point that it would be wrong to see the issue as an imposition of regulations from outside. We take a very active part in collective decision making in the EU and information on that is kept by individual departments. The size of the House of Commons is a matter for the other place, but it is important that we have MPs representing the constituencies that there are. The size of the House of Lords is a matter that your Lordships may wish to look at and think about in terms of the future of House of Lords reform.

11th May 2004

EUROPEAN UNION CONSTITUTIONAL TREATY

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: My Lords, over the past few years there has been quite a lot of national debate as to whether or not we should join the European single currency and now the proposed new constitution is swimming into public consciousness. But there has been very little discussion about our present relationship with the European Union, which most people in this country do not really understand at all, although they rightly do not like what they do understand.

Yet the Government's main line of argument in support of the constitution-and we heard it this afternoon from the Minister-goes roughly as follows: "This is nothing new. The Conservatives gave away much more of our sovereignty when they signed up in 1972 to what has become the EU, and when they later passed the Single European Act and the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties. So the proposed constitution is really only a tidying-up exercise, and we cannot see what the fuss is about".

One cannot really judge the truth of this statement unless one understands what has already been given away, and set that against the proposed constitution. So I thought I would put the briefest of summaries on the record in your Lordships' House this evening. It is some years since that has been done.

Before I do so, I really must expose the fallacy of the Government and Europhile claim that because some aspects-indeed, many aspects-of the proposed constitution are not new, since they are already in the existing treaties, that means we do not have to worry about them: they must be acceptable to the British people. This argument does not wash, because hardly any aspect of our present relationship has been explained to the people. As the debate on the constitution proceeds, they are therefore free to say "We do not care if some theft of our sovereignty is already in the treaties. We still do not like it, and we want it back".

I very much hope that this growing awareness on the part of the people will extend to a knowledge of just how far their sovereignty has indeed already been betrayed by their political masters over the past 32 years. I say this because there are at least two fundamental principles which underpin our constitution, our sovereignty, our democracy. The first is the hard-won right of the British people to elect and dismiss those who make their laws. The second is that the people have given Parliament the power to make all their laws for them, but they have not given Parliament the permission to give that power away.

I submit that both those principles, for which over the centuries millions have willingly given up their lives, already stand deeply betrayed by our present membership of the European Union. It is essential to remember that the people's pact is with Parliament; it is not with the executive or government of the day. The people elect and dismiss Members of Parliament once every four or five years, and our government are, of course, formed out of a majority of elected MPs. But only some 60 per cent of the electorate now bother to vote in general elections, and modern governments are supported by only some 40 per cent of those who vote, or 24 per cent of the electorate. I submit, therefore, that these temporary governments, always empowered by a minority of the people, do not have the right to break the great pacts upon which our sovereignty rests. Yet that is just what they have been doing for the past 32 years.

So just how bad is the present situation? To what extent could the proposed constitution be fairly described as a "tidying up exercise"? The detailed process of how huge areas of our national life have already been gradually handed over to control from Brussels in the various treaty amendments, and for which this Parliament has already become a rubber stamp, is to be found in Written Answers in your Lordships' Hansard for 10 July 2003, at cols. 50-51, and for 26 April 2004, at cols. 72-73. Put very broadly, these areas include all of our commerce and industry; all our social and labour policy; our environment, including our agriculture and fish; and our foreign aid.

By "control from Brussels" I mean of course the system whereby our Government, with 11.5 per cent of the votes, can be outvoted in the Council of Ministers. If they agree or are outvoted on a new law in all those areas, then we in this Parliament must put it into British law on pain of unlimited fines in the Luxembourg so-called Court. That is what is described in Euro-speak as the "democratic deficit", and that is why I say we have become a rubber stamp.

Our foreign trade relations are in an even worse category because the Commission itself negotiates those on our behalf. So in this area the EU could already be said to have its own legal personality, to which I shall return. In addition, laws affecting our justice and home affairs and our foreign and security policy, if they are agreed by the executive in Brussels, must also be rubber stamped by Parliament here. If we do not enact new laws in these areas, such as the recent and infamous EU arrest warrant, we would not be subject to unlimited fines, but we would be in breach of our treaty obligations. This, of course, is a far more horrifying prospect than a fine to our political classes in their diplomatic cocktail parties and so on; a fine, after all, is paid by the people. It is not surprising that no law agreed or passed in Brussels has ever been successfully overturned by Parliament. Indeed, the 1972 Act made it clear that that was to be the case.

So that is a very brief summary of where we are without the proposed constitution. I suppose that you can call it a "tidying up exercise" if you admit that it sweeps the rest of our sovereignty under the Brussels carpet, which of course it does.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: My Lords, did I follow the noble Lord in his suggestion that the 1972 Act clearly established the primacy of Community law?

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: Absolutely, my Lords, yes. If the noble Lord cares to read our debate on 27 June 2003 he will see that I read out the treaty clauses so that they should be on the record in your Lordships' House. They said precisely that. However, I would remind the noble Lord that the Prime Minister of the day, Mr Edward Heath, said that no essential sovereignty was being given away, and the subsequent Prime Minister, Mr Harold Wilson, held a referendum in which he assured us that we were merely talking about staying in a Common Market.

Other noble Lords have dealt with various features of this constitution. I would single out two which seem to me the most important. First, as other noble Lords have said, it grants the EU its own legal personality superior to that of the member states. There is no longer even the bogus pretence that the EU is an arrangement between sovereign states. Once the constitution is agreed, the EU and qualified majority voting in the Council of Ministers become sovereign. The EU flag, which at the moment is flown as pure advertising, becomes the flag of a new megastate. The EU anthem becomes its official anthem. Alas, poor Beethoven.

The other feature that has limitless scope for judicial activism by the Luxembourg Court is the inclusion of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the treaty. I remind your Lordships that Mr Vaz, the then Europe Minister, said that that would have no more status than the Beano. That remains to be seen.

Those two features alone will ensure that the Prime Minister's famous red lines will soon be dissipated. Indeed, his red line on tax is already breached, as my noble friend Lady Noakes has so expertly revealed, as any noble Lord who cares to read our Unstarred Question on 25 February 2004 will readily appreciate. Briefly, that is because although the tax provisions, being Clauses 90 to 93 of the TEC, still give us the veto over indirect taxation, the treaties appear to be silent on direct taxation, as my noble friend Lady Noakes has said. That is, until you examine the single market provisions.

Lord Hannay of Chiswick: My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for giving way. He and the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, seem to be propagating a new doctrine - perhaps he will elucidate it - that areas that are not covered in the treaty are axiomatically covered in the treaty.

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: My Lords, I do not think I was saying that. I was merely saying that direct taxation is not explicitly mentioned in the treaty and that the Court is free to decide that the European Union is free to legislate in the area to which I was about to come. If the noble Lord will bear with me a second, I will explain. I think that my noble friend has already explained how this is happening for corporation tax. My contention is that, potentially, that is open to all direct tax.

If you examine the single market provisions, you will see that they forbid discrimination among member states and giving "aids" - that is the word in the treaties - to one's own nationals and corporations. Articles 43 and 44 of the TEC repay study to get the full flavour of how our direct tax policy has already been surreptitiously put within the reach of the corrupt octopus in Brussels. I do not say that it has happened yet, but it is there in the treaty. When the Commission wishes to propose and the court wishes to decide, our existing direct tax policy is at stake.

I conclude by thanking the Government for conceding a referendum on this great matter. That decision has saved some of us quite a lot of work. We Euro-realists now look forward to winning that referendum and rejecting whatever constitution eventually emerges from the secret conclaves of the Eurocrats. I trust that, in the process, the British people will finally come to appreciate the mortal danger in which their democracy already stands and decide to save it for those who come after.

Lord Willoughby de Broke: My Lords, I am grateful for the opportunity to debate this issue tonight, particularly as the Irish presidency has been giving the kiss of life to what at least some of us hoped was the moribund corpse of the constitution.

The unwelcome news of the kiss of life was given to us last Wednesday by the Minister, in response to a Starred Question by the noble Lord, Lord Grenfell. She stated then that,

"we are placing in the Library of the House copies of the presidency's proposals that were issued last week".-[Official Report, 5/5/04; col. 1105.]

As ever in the EU, what you see is not necessarily what you get. It now turns out that what the noble Baroness thought were presidency proposals and what she told us were presidency proposals were not presidency proposals at all. They were, apparently, as the Government's spinmeisters have now been telling us, purely "working documents" and,

"not in any way a fresh overall presidency proposal".

I can agree that it was not a fresh overall, but I am afraid that it looks like a presidency proposal, and a very unpalatable one at that. The non-presidency proposal contains 50 proposals on 130 pages. I was amazed and astonished, as I am sure other noble Lords were, to find that all those proposals moved powers from national parliaments to the Commission, and that every single proposal would increase the power of the Eurosalariat at the expense of national parliaments. How very surprising.

In foreign affairs, for example, under the non-proposals it is suggested that when deciding on a proposal from the Union Minister for Foreign Affairs, whoever that grandee may be, the Council shall act by QMV. That is provided in Article III-201 of annex 25, on page 68 of the non-proposals. It says that qualified majority voting must be used,

"when adopting, on a proposal from the Union Minister for Foreign Affairs, a European decision defining a Union action or position".

I have bad news on taxation for my noble friend Lady Noakes. Again the non-proposals propose that, although the Council appears to be required to act unanimously, as soon as it finds that is the word in the document - that the measures it wishes to legislate against,

"do not affect the fiscal regimes of the Member States",

it can act by QMV. Bang goes another red line.

I think that noble Lords will have got the message. In whatever area - justice, home affairs, foreign policy, economic policy or employment - the traffic is all one-way: to the unelected Eurocracy and away from the member states and their elected parliaments.

The repeated assertions by our Europhile friends that the constitution will give more power to national parliaments is what Touchstone in "As You Like It" called the "Lie Circumstantial" or even the "Lie Direct". I was surprised to hear the Minister and the noble Baroness, Lady Williams, last Wednesday engaging in a double act, agreeing that,

"there will be more power coming to national parliaments".-[Official Report, 5/5/04; col. 1107.]

The noble Lord, Lord Grenfell, made a valiant attempt to explain his committee's support for the yellow card system. However, the reality is clear: the current constitution says that if one-third of member parliaments object to a Commission proposal, the Commission must "review" its proposal; when it has reviewed the proposal, it is at perfect liberty to say, "Thank you very much for those interesting comments. Unfortunately, they seem to have found their way into the Commission wastepaper basket. By the way, don't slam the door on the way out".

I shall borrow the Prime Minister's brand of would-be cool rhetoric. It is kind of dumb to pretend that the draft constitution returns any power to member states. I am happy to give way to any noble Lord or noble Baroness who can give me an example of such a return of powers or competences to national parliaments. There are none, so I have not been interrupted. It is kind of dumb to pretend that we need the constitution to make the EU more efficient.

How many Members of your Lordships' House believe that the weakness of the EU lies in its inability to enact regulations? The acquis runs to 97,000 pages. Over 100,000 regulations have been imported into UK law, yet we are asked to swallow the idea that we should allow the EU to pass even more laws in even more areas. The EU already contains the most highly taxed and highly regulated economies; now, the Eurocrats want the power to make things worse. Give me a break.

It is kind of dumb to pretend that the draft constitution does not give away more powers to the centre. The constitution will abolish the national veto in over 30 areas of policy. What is that, if it is not a surrender of power? The proposal for shared competences, of which the noble Lord, Lord Tomlinson, made such play, is a sham. The EU will have the absolute right, under the shared competences article, to legislate where and when it chooses. Member states can only pick up the crumbs. Under Article 17, the EU may, in order to attain its objectives, add to its powers over member states' elected governments by agreement with the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. I underline the fact that, in doing that and extending its powers, the EU will not have to consult or refer to national parliaments; it can all be done under Article 17 in Brussels, between drinks and dinner-how very convenient. So much for returning powers to national parliaments.

Above all, it is kind of dumb, even for someone who thinks that he saw Jackie Milburn play football for Newcastle, to pretend that, if we say "No" to the constitution, we will be cast into economic and social darkness. Britain has the fourth largest economy in the world; it has the best trained and largest army in the European Union; and it gives £11 billion a year to the European Union budget. We run a huge annual trade deficit with the European Union. In whose interests would it be to start a tariff war?

No, my Lords, I believe that the British people will see the scare stories for what they are-kind of dumb-and will vote against the constitution when they get the chance.

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: My Lords, it is always a great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Willoughby de Broke. Like him, I am grateful to the noble Baroness and the Government for allowing us a further debate on the constitution. I would be even more grateful to her, the Government and anybody else, if I believed that they would listen to anything that we said. Certainly, they did not listen to what we said in the Standing Committee - I attended every sitting, asked questions and spoke- and, when finished, the constitution was exactly the same as it was when we started. We had no effect, regardless of the effort that we put in in the Standing Committee.

There have been changes in the Government's attitude, not only in the past few weeks but over the years since the constitution was first mooted at Nice. First, there was total opposition - Vaz and his "Beano" comment, for example. Then, we had total acceptance. We were told that the constitution was only a tidying-up operation, and we were derided by the noble Baroness - she admits it - for wanting a referendum on the constitution. Then, in a complete volte-face, a referendum was conceded. Those are the changes of policy that we have seen during the whole saga. I am coming to understand that we cannot believe anything that the Government say. Certainly, we can have no confidence in the Government's competence when they behave in that fashion.

No sooner had the Government conceded a referendum on the existing constitution than the Irish Government came along with another big draft. The noble Lord, Lord Willoughby de Broke, has just referred to it and gave us some details. Having conceded that we will have a referendum, the Government must now examine a new draft from the Irish Government that, without any doubt, will increase the competences of the European Union at our expense.

Yesterday's Guardian said:

"Brown to demand 25 EU treaty changes".

Could we know what they are, if that story is true? Will the noble Baroness tell us what changes Mr Brown would like to see made to the constitution before we agree to it? Will she give a guarantee that the so-called red lines will be maintained? They have not been in the past, and I hope that they will be on this occasion. In no circumstances should they be relaxed. Will the Government go even further to get powers returned and, as other noble Lords have asked, to get rid of the acquis communautaire and the 97,000 pages of legislation?

Like the noble Lord, Lord Willoughby de Broke, and others, I was startled by the claim that Britain would be marginalised and sidelined if we did not sign up to the constitution. What sort of talk is that, from people who are supposed to lead the country? Why have they so little confidence in the ability of this country to succeed in the world without belonging to some regional bloc? We have done it for hundreds of years in the past. Why have our present leaders no confidence in the British people to stand their ground, not in a regional backwater but in the wide, wide world. After all, we are, geographically speaking, just about the centre of the world. As the noble Lord, Lord Willoughby de Broke, said, we are the fourth largest economy in the world. We have the Commonwealth. If we had only developed that, instead of stopping in the morass of Europe's back yard, this country would thrive.

Then, of course, there is the other claim - the frightener that, if we left the EU, 3 million jobs would be at stake. What nonsense that is. In the first place, we trade with the EU on a deficit of £5,000 million a year. EU countries would lose more jobs than we would, if they decided to put embargoes or restrictions on trade. They are not stupid; they will not do that, will they? In any event, they could not do so under international trade law. All that is a frightener.

The Europhiles are always using it. They used in 1975, and they still think that they will frighten the people of this country.

In any event, if it is all about trade, why do we need a European government, two presidents, a parliament, a bureaucracy, a currency, an army, a legal personality, a foreign minister, a supreme court, a public prosecutor, a flag, an anthem and a Europe day? Why do we need all of that to trade with them? We manage to trade with 172 other countries without all that paraphernalia. Indeed, all those other countries trade with Europe without all that paraphernalia. So it is nonsense, is it not? It is complete and utter nonsense that 3 million jobs are at stake. We have lost a lot of jobs in various industries. Our manufacturing industry has been hurt by our being members of the European Union. So I wish that the Government, and everyone else, would stop that.

I do not know whether the BBC gets any grants from the European Commission, but its attitude to the European Union suggests that it does. Perhaps the noble Baroness can tell us whether it receives grants. At the weekend, the BBC wheeled out its resident Europhile-the noble Lord, Lord Heseltine, who I do not see in his place today to debate this matter. As usual, the BBC gave him twice as much coverage as it did to Mr Davidson who was putting the other point of view.

Of course, last Friday, the noble Lord, Lord Heseltine, was also on "Question Time". As usual, there were three Europhiles and only one person from UKIP. That is the attitude of the BBC all along. It simply does not understand that there is a large body of opinion in this country that is not only opposed to this constitution, but would also like to withdraw from the European Union altogether. It really is about time that the BBC woke up to what the public want and to do its duty as a public corporation. It should give fair weather and fair coverage to all aspects of the argument.

I hope that the BBC will do that as the referendum approaches, so that everyone will have a fair hearing. There should be no more breakfasts with the Europhiles, as in the 1975 referendum, so that it could sort out what lies it would tell during a particular day. Everyone knows my view of the European Union. We should never have got in. It is about time that we got out. I agree especially with the noble Lord, Lord Blackwell, when he said that to sign up to this constitution would be a disaster for this country. That is what we all want to avoid.

16/05/2004


Let the lies begin, let the deception commence

The accession of ten new states to the EU yesterday has prompted the Europhiles to their greatest efforts at lying yet, and is a warning of what we might expect when the referendum campaign begins. Even normally sensible newspapers like the Times and The Sunday Times seem to have been at the free champagne, with headlines such as 'Glad New Morning, and 'Bright New Dawn', and much space is devoted to the 're-unification of Europe'. As for the BBC, "Broadcasting House", that magazine for the actual and spiritual residents of Hampstead, which masquerades as a current affairs program, went into overdrive this morning, attempting to portray those opposed to the EU as either the grumpy old man in the corner who doesn't understand the wonderful wave of the future or, worse, a bigot who hates foreigners and is obsessed with immigration from the new EU members. There are also those who think it marvellous that a Briton, Chris Patten, might become the President of Europe.

One hardly knows where to begin with all this nonsense but perhaps the points should be answered one by one:

Yesterday was a day that Voltaire's Dr Pangloss, with his belief that all is for the best, would have welcomed with open arms. Unfortunately for Europe, and the world, it will be those who recognize that the EU, far from being the wave of the future, is an idea whose time has passed, who will be proved to have the clearer vision. It will all end in tears.

02/05/2004


A lesson learned

In 1975 British businesses, both large and small, were fooled by the federalists into supporting membership of the EEC. Fortunately a poll released today shows that they have learnt their lesson and this time around the majority will not be voting for the EU constitution.

Almost two thirds believe that the constitution would surrender crucial powers to a failing EU and even more of the chief executives thought the economy would be more prosperous and secure if ministers took back powers from Brussels. Amazingly 27% still think the EU is good for their business but 47% disagree.

Even better British business now opposes the Euro by 70 to 22 per cent and some of those international companies who previously urged Britain to join are now recanting. The president of Toyota now says that it is of little relevance whether the UK joins the Euro.

Meanwhile in Euroland tempers are frayed. At a recent meeting the finance ministers of France and Germany attacked Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank, for not cutting interest rates. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French minister, protested that it was his job as Finance Minister to deliver growth, but he was unable to do so as he had no control over the levers of growth handed to the ECB. Perhaps he should have read some CIB leaflets before supporting the Euro.

What all this shows is businessmen, and many politicians, have failed to understand the reality of the EU until very late in the game. For the members of Euroland it is too late but fortunately for the UK we can still walk away and leave the rest of them to lay in the bed they have made.

28/04/2004


Opening shots

We must win the referendum on the EU constitution otherwise Britain is truly finished

Although the federalists are trying to confuse the issue of the referendum on the EU constitution by claiming that it is all too complex to be understood by the ordinary citizen the proposition is really quite simple. If one wishes to live in a province of a single European state, governed by an immovable bureaucratic elite in Brussels, who are unaccountable to the people, then support a constitution for Europe. If one wishes to live in an independent nation, ruled by elected representatives at Westminster and who can be turned out if the electorate so wish then oppose a constitution for Europe. All one needs to do is to look clearly if one wishes to see what the EU is and what it seeks to become.

We now face a barrage of lies from the Europhiles and their creatures in the media, most particularly the BBC, whose craven fawning to Brussels is a national disgrace.

The following is an interchange between the Lords Stoddart and Pearson, both on the CIB national executive, and the arch Blairite Baroness Amos, which took place last Tuesday:

House of Lords Debate on the Prime Minister's Announcement of a Referendum on the EU Constitution - 20 April 2004

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: My Lords, the Statement concludes with the words: "Let the issue be put. Let the battle be joined". I have to tell Members of the House, if they do not know already, that I have been battling for the past 40 years and I am quite happy to continue to do battle for as long as it takes to win the war. I welcome the Statement and the fact that we are to have a referendum. However, I have to say that the simple Statement is accompanied by some tendentious argument, which I should like now to join. However, there is no time so I shall not do so. My main question is what is meant by Parliament being able to debate the constitution in detail and being able to decide upon it? What will Parliament be able to do? Will it be able to say only yes or no to the constitution or will it be able to debate the constitution in a proper Bill which will be debatable and amendable? That point is important and absolutely crucial. If Parliament is to discuss the matter first, surely it must be able to make amendments to what is a new constitution. I would like a straight answer to what I believe is a straight question. Does the noble Baroness agree that once we have the constitution we shall have it for ever, as it can be amended only by unanimity? The provisions of the constitution will be at the will not of our Government or of any other government in the new European Union, but of the European Court of Justice.

Baroness Amos: My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Stoddart, has been battling on this point for a very long time. Now we all have the freedom to join in. Of course, I admire his restraint in not going into detail on the specific issues. The debate in Parliament will be as on any other treaty. The treaty is unamendable, but the Bill will be amendable. That is what we have always done. My noble friend Lady Symons informs me that with the last treaty that we discussed through a Bill, we spent some 50 hours debating the Bill. It would be wrong to say that Parliament has in any way been short-changed in that process. The noble Lord is right to say that amendment of the constitutional treaty would be by unanimity.

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: My Lords, is it true that there are two fundamental errors in the Statement. The first is the suggestion that the proposed treaty is a big advance in subsidiarity. Is it not true that the document that we had before Christmas, which was torpedoed by the Spanish and the Portuguese, allowed for only two-thirds of national governments to object to a Commission proposal? The Commission merely had to take away a proposal, look at it and if it did not want it, it could carry straight on. Secondly, and far more importantly, is the Prime Minister's red line on tax a red herring? Has the Leader of the House read your Lordships' debate on 25 February this year? Although it is clear under the official tax provisions of the treaty, particularly at Clause 93, that unanimity is required for indirect tax, the treaty is silent on direct tax, unless one looks at Clauses 43 to 44 - the single market provisions of the treaty - where the Commission is already free to propose, and the court is already free to agree. Is it not clear that direct tax has already passed to Brussels?

Baroness Amos: My Lords, we have made our position clear on this matter. We have said that tax matters will continue to be decided by unanimity. Paragraph 76, on page 35, of the White Paper published in September 2003, states: Tax matters are a key component of national sovereignty and vital to the social and economic well being of the country. It is for this reason that the Government made a manifesto commitment to maintain the UK's tax veto". That is why in the IGC the Government will insist that tax matters continue to be decided by unanimity. That was our position when the White Paper was published last year and it continues to be our position. The treaty already has major provision for subsidiarity, the mechanism allowing national parliaments to object to any Commission proposals that breach that principle. That is the first time that such a provision has been put in place.

Don't believe a word Government ministers say - if they lose this vote they lose their seats on the gravy train - they will try every trick in the book to deceive the British people. This is our last chance to save ourselves.

22/04/2004


Cometh the hour...

The AGM of the CIB, which took place yesterday, was followed by a very well attended public meeting.

The first speaker, Christopher Booker, gave an excellent account of how the British people have been deceived by their political class for decades as the blueprint for the construction of an authoritarian single European state has been followed by the architects of the project. His analysis was masterful and left one in no doubt that we now stand at the edge of the cliff. Either we leave this abomination of an organisation within the new two years or Britain is finished.

However it was the second speaker, Neil Herron, who proved a revelation, giving heart to many who had felt that all our efforts would come to naught and the traitors and fascists seeking to destroy our democracy would win.

Mr Herron, a down to earth working man from the North East, has defied the Europhiles at every turn, humiliated them in public meetings and sent them scurrying back to London with their tails between their legs. He is organising a true grass roots campaign which is intended to give the British people the chance to, as Orwell said, "shake off these people as a horse shakes off flies".

His confidence, understanding of the truth and track record of success (having made several mendacious Europhiles resign from their positions) is an inspiration to all who continue to defy the Europhiles.

The standing ovation at the end of his speech was richly deserved and sent this observer away thinking that perhaps we may yet be saved. It is five minutes to midnight but we are not quite finished.

18/04/2004


FSB votes against the EU

At its annual conference in Blackpool on 20th and 21st March, the Federation of Small Businesses in separate motions decisively voted in favour of calling on the Government to abandon the programme for the creation of Regional Assemblies and asked that it not sign the treaty for the creation of a EU Constitution.

Small businesses are widely regarded as the engine room of the British economy and for so many members of their main trade association to vote against major aspects of Government policy, is hugely significant. Sadly, within days of the FSB vote against the Constitution, Mr Blair was in Brussels committing himself to a revitalised EU Constitution, which he wants to see signed by June.

We are clearly left in grave doubt as to whether Mr Blair represents the British people at EU summits or merely himself.

Full details of the FSB motions and the voting are as follows:

Federation of Small Businesses - Blackpool Conference 20.3.04

MOTION 2

Conference calls on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to disband the programme for Regional Assemblies

For:   89,322   Agains t:   19,130

Federation of Small Businesses - Blackpool Conference 21.3.04

MOTION 5

Conference calls upon Her Majesty's Government not to sign the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe on the grounds that handing over more power to Brussels will have a detrimental effect on the UK business environment.

For:   104,568   Again st:   5,292

These motions give the lie to all the claims that business is in favour of the European Union

31/03/2004


The End of Freedom

As Eurorealists warned the politicians have now returned to the EU constitution, this time attempting to force it through in double quick time and without giving most European electorates the right to have a say by referendum.

Any who doubt the enormity of what is proposed should read the following twelve points, which sum up the arguments against this foul constitution:

  1. The Draft Constitution is a plan for a more centralised, more unequal and more undemocratic EU, further removed from ordinary citizens and more under the control of the political elites of the Big Member States, especially Germany and France.

  2. Up to now the European Union has been based on treaties between its Members. It has been the creation of its Member States and could not exist without them. The proposed Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe sets up what is legally and constitutionally a new EU, founded in effect on its own State Constitution. It makes the EU an international actor in its own right, with legal personality and an independent corporate existence for the first time, separate from and superior to its Member States, and able to negotiate treaties with foreign States on behalf of its Members. Citizens want their countries to be politically independent, run by governments that are responsible to them. They do not want their countries to become provinces of a centralised EU State whose policies are decided by supranational committees, the European Commission, Council and Court of Justice, which are run by undemocratic elites that are not elected by citizens or collectively under their control.

  3. The Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe repeals all the existing EU/EC treaties from the Treaty of Rome to the Treaty of Nice and incorporates their main elements into an EU State Constitution. This is a good opportunity to re-assess those elements, repatriate powers back from Brussels to the Member States and remedy some of the things that are wrong with the EU - for example the Common Agricultural Policy, the Common Fisheries Policy, Euratom, the endless Brussels rules and regulations. But it does not do this.

  4. The peoples of Europe have not sought this EU Constitution. Giscard d'Estaing's Convention that drafted it failed to carry out the terms of reference it was given by the EU Governments in the Laeken Declaration. This called for "more democracy, transparency and efficiency" in the EU, reforms that would bring the EU "closer to citizens" and the possibility of "restoring tasks to the Member States." The Draft Constitution does not propose restoring a single power from Brussels to the Member States.

  5. Article I-10 of the Constitution says: "The Constitution, and law adopted by the Union's Institutions in exercising competences conferred on it, shall have primacy over the law of the Member States." This has never been stated in an EU treaty before. Moreover, it applies to all areas of government, not just the mainly economic areas covered by previous EC/EU treaties. This removes the national democracy and political independence of the Member States. Constitutionally and politically they become like provinces of an EU State, with their national Constitutions and laws subordinate to the EU Constitution and laws.

  6. It replaces the system of weighted votes for making EU laws that has existed since the 1957 Treaty of Rome by a new system in which laws would be made by a simple majority of States as long as they contain 60% of the EU's total population. This gives the advantage to the larger states with their larger populations. It gives greater power to Germany and France, which have nearly 40% of the population of the enlarged EU between them. It would lead to far more EU laws being passed, more centralisation in Brussels and less power for national parliaments and the citizens that elect them. It means less democracy, not more.

  7. The Constitution abolishes national control in nearly 30 new policy areas. They include civil and criminal law and procedure, asylum and immigration, Europol and Eurojust, energy, structural funds, commercial treaties dealing with services, culture. People do not want the EU to have more powers, just after the Treaty of Nice and the Treaty of Amsterdam have given it so much more already.

  8. It abolishes the rotating six-monthly EU presidencies which give each Member State a role in running the EU and replaces them with a five-year Political President, like an ordinary State. It establishes an EU Foreign Minister and diplomatic service, separate from those of its Member States, as well as an EU Public Prosecutor able to prosecute people across national boundaries.

  9. The Constitution forbids Member States to operate an independent foreign policy. Article I-15 says "Member States shall actively and unreservedly support the Union's common foreign and security policy in a spirit of loyalty and mutual solidarity and shall comply with the acts adopted by the Union in this area." One can show "loyalty" only to what is superior, in this case the EU. Article I-40 envisages an EU military alliance and common defence, which would cut across the obligations of the EU's NATO members, while ending the neutrality of its non-NATO ones. There has been no demand from citizens for this.

  10. The Constitution greatly extends the scope and competence of the EU by giving its Court of Justice in Luxembourg the power to determine the fundamental rights of EU citizens, overriding national Constitutions and Supreme Courts, as well as the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. It does this by making the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights legally binding in EU law. This would bring the EU Court into virtually every area of life and society; for human rights issues arise everywhere - the right the life, family law, property rights, labour law, health and education, religion etc. Human rights standards are not so defective in the EU Member States that they would be improved by giving final power to decide them to the EU Court. In some sensitive areas there are differences in rights standards among EU countries - e.g. preventive detention, trial by jury, narcotics, abortion, euthanasia. Should the EU Court be empowered to lay down a uniform standard for such matters across Europe? This proposal has more to do with power than rights, for the case-law of the EU Court shows that it seeks continually to extend the EU's power into ever wider areas. The EU should respect human rights. It should not be given power to decide our rights.

  11. Article I-24 of the Draft Constitution allows the Presidents and Prime Ministers to move EU policy areas from unanimity to majority voting without the need for new treaties and their ratification by national parliaments or referendums. Article I-17 provides that if the Constitution has not given the EU sufficient powers to attain its very wide objectives, the Council of Ministers can "take appropriate measures" to give themselves those powers. These Articles open the way for ever further expansion of EU powers at the expense of national parliaments and the citizens that elect them, without the need for their prior consent. It is fundamentally anti-democratic.

  12. The EU Constitution makes a liberal market economy, maximization of economic competition, laissez-faire, free movement of capital and the privatization of public services into constitutional principles that are immune to legal challenge because of the superiority of EU law over national law. It states that the EU's objectives include "a social market economy", a term used in the German Constitution but not in other countries. National Constitutions do not seek to pre-empt society's social policy and economic choices in the way the EU Constitution does. In normal democratic societies discussion of such matters and the choice of alternative futures are the stuff of public debate and contention between political parties, and are not laid down as part of the fundamental law of the State, as in the EU Constitution.

Mr Blair declares that the adoption of the EU constitution would be good for the British people yet its main effect would be to transfer effective power from elected representatives at Westminster to bureaucrats in Brussels.

The Prime Minister would do well to consider the words addressed by Winston Churchill to Italian people in August 1944 as they emerged from years of fascist rule. He was discussing freedom and asked two questions which revealed whether a nation did in fact possess that essential quality: 'Have the people the right to turn out a Government of which they disapprove, and are constitutional means provided by which they can make their will apparent?'.

It is clear that the single European state which would emerge should this present constitution be imposed would satisfy neither of Churchill's tests. It would be indeed ironic if, after bringing freedom and democracy to Europe in the 1940s, we were now to surrender both in deference to Mr Blair's anxiety to force this issue without granting the electorate the opportunity to decide their fate in a referendum.

28/03/2004


EU constitution blown on course

If, as threatened, the Polish government does allow the results of the election in Spain to undermine its opposition to the EU constitution then the consequences of that single terrorist act will be more far reaching then one would have thought possible. Should the constitution be adopted it will spell the end of Britain as an independent nation, destroy the Anglo-American alliance and inevitably drive Europe and America apart. The creation of a single European state, which would see the triumph of Franco-German hostility to the USA would, not surprisingly, see the Americans revert to Fortress America and leave Europe, run by instinctive appeasers, and with peoples unwilling to bear the cost of effective defences, exposed to the dangers which may not only come from the Islamic world.

Should this come to pass then the reverberations of the Madrid bombs will echo round the world for as long as have the shots fired by Princip at the Archduke in June 1914 and will confirm that terrorism does indeed work.

22/03/2004


The Euro isn't working

Latest indications are that the much vaunted Euro is proving to be the disaster Eurorealists always knew it would be:

  1. Sir Eddie George criticises lack of Eurozone structural reform

    In an interview with the Times this week, Sir Eddie George, the former Governor of the Bank of England, criticised the Eurozone's lack of flexibility and structural reform. He added, "in contrast to the US where they have got a sustained improvement in productivity, we are not getting that in Germany and other Eurozone countries" (13 March). The former Bank of England Governor also suggested that the European Central Bank could do more to boost the Eurozone's fragile recovery, arguing "there may be room" for a cut in its interest rates.

  2. Italian growth forecasts downgraded

    Leading financial institutions and think tanks have this week downgraded Italy's economic growth prospects because of the strong euro and slumping consumer spending. The latest growth forecasts show that economists expect Italy's GDP to grow by only 1.4 percent his year, less even than the 1.7 percent predicted for Germany and France.

  3. French industrial production down

    New figures out last week from Insee, the French Government's statistics office, show that French industrial production fell for the second time in three months in January. Industrial production declined 0.5 percent from December - mirroring a drop in output in Germany. The decline in output suggests the Eurozone's fragile recovery is loosing momentum

They can't say that they weren't warned

19/03/2004


Steve Thoburn

The first of the Metric Martyrs, Steve Thoburn, has died suddenly at the age of 39. Although it cannot be proved there seems little doubt that the stress of being pursued by vindictive and viscous state functionaries over the legal costs of his brave stand against the vile laws which make selling goods in British measurements a crime will have contributed to his tragic death.

When lying politicians claim that we live in a liberal democracy we must always remember this brave man, who should be lauded as a national hero, not branded as some sort of criminal. The little Hitlers who hounded him will sacrifice anything in order to preserve their places on the European gravy train but the fight will continue and now it will be dedicated to his memory.

Unlike so many others Steve Thoburn stood up to be counted and defied the totalitarians to the last.

Remember him and damn them.

Please click here to read a tribute to Steve Thoburn from Lord Stoddart of Swindon, Chairman of CIB

Never forget that laws made can be repealed and changes made can be changed back. When the fight is won, and the Eurorealist cause has triumphed, the imperial system of measurements can be restored, as indeed can be the use of the Fahrenheit scale and all those other things which our opponents seek to eradicate in order that this nation might be subjugated to a single European state. At that time Steve Thoburn will be remembered as he deserves.

15/03/2004


You will obey

All opinion polls and public consultations show that the overwhelming majority of the British people are opposed to the use of GM crops in the UK and yet the government is railroading them through.

When challenged on this some spokesmen have stated that 'under EU law' they cannot ban such crops and only purely voluntary agreements between farmers can create GM free zones.

We are therefore in the position that the democratic will of the British people counts for nothing against the arrogance of the unelected dictators of Brussels. Were we to elect a government from the Green party in this country, on a manifesto of banning all GM crops, that government would have to bend the knee to Brussels and allow them to be grown, unless it was prepared to leave the EU. Perhaps that is why so many of the Green party are also supporters of the Eurorealist cause.

This is yet one more example of how our democracy is dying and we are coming increasingly under the sway of a bureaucratic dictatorship. There really is no choice if we wish to live in a democratic county - we must leave the EU.

10/03/2004


Goodbye to the rule of law

In an article in yesterday's Times Libby Purves gave a sound assessment of the alarming changes being proposed to our legal system and constitutional arrangements but she clearly lacks an appreciation of the reason that underlies these changes. If the political class are to succeed in their ambition to make this nation a part of a single European state, which will have a common legal area and a single constitution, then our time honoured system of Common Law must be replaced by the continental Napoleonic code of Corpus Juris, while there will be no place for allegiances other than that to the governing political elite. The coming United States of Europe will based on republican principles, while the triumph of bureaucracy over democratic rule will make it essential for civil servants and the armed forces to be totally subservient to the institutions of that state. There is nothing which the politicians will not sacrifice in their own self interest and the changes deplored by so many are inevitable if the UK remains within the European Union as it continues its journey towards its federal goal.

10/03/2004


CIB AGM and Public Meeting

Saturday 17th April 2004

Upper Hall, Emmanuel Centre, 9-23 Marsham Street, London, SW1

11:00 a.m (AGM)

This meeting is only open to CIB members

2:30 p.m. (Public meeting)

This meeting is open to all

Chairman

Lord Stoddart of Swindon, Campaign for an Independent Britain

Speakers

Christopher Booker, Author and Journalist

Neil Herron, Campaign Director, Referendum04 and Metric Martyrs Fund


Arrogance of the BBC finally comes home to roost

Whatever doubts one may have about the validity of Lord Hutton's conclusions there can be no doubt that it is the institutional arrogance of the BBC which has led that organisation to disaster.

An institution once noted for its impartiality has, in recent years, so embraced the political correct agenda of the liberal elite as to have earned itself the sobriquet of the Blair Broadcasting Corporation. When Lord Pearson of Rannoch organised an investigation into the manner in which the BBC treated the matter of the European Union it found irrefutable evidence of bias in favour of the latter, engendered by the political views of those who now dominate the organisation. The only reaction forthcoming was a charge by certain BBC functionaries that anyone who opposed British membership was 'barmy'.

It is ironic that the BBC has been caught out not by deviating from the agenda of the elite but by Mr Blair deciding to do so himself, thus placing the corporation in conflict with a government whose policies it normally endorses, albeit not openly.

The only solution is for the BBC to divorce itself from the attitudes of the political class, something which requires their personnel to be recruited from other than the chattering classes.

02/02/2004


Vindicated

Today Eurorealists can feel totally vindicated in all they have said regarding the single European currency as, in an interview with The Times, the apostle of monetary union, Jacques Delors, has stated that he now understands why the British have refused to join euroland and sees no reason for them to do so. He also describes the European Union as rudderless, lacking vision and in a state of latent crisis.

After all the years of those like "Britain in Europe" and other Euro fanatics telling us that we must join the Euro or face disaster we can now quote their own hero back to them, proving that we were right all the time.

As now even Jacques Delors accepts that the UK is right to reject the single European currency is it not incumbent upon the government to put an end to speculation and confirm that we shall never become part of Euroland. This would give industry the clear decision which they have been demanding and put an end to a matter which has distorted political debate for a generation.

In addition, as Mr Delors now recognizes that the EU is in a state of latent crisis should we not now be giving serious consideration to seeking the exit before our nation is damaged further by membership of this failing club.

19/01/2004


A letter from the Liberal Party

Councillor Steve Radford, Chairman of the Liberal Party, has had the following letter, concerning the outrageous treatment of peaceful protestors in Brussels, published in the Western Morning News, Daily Post and other media outlets:

The arrest and deportation of a few British protesters appealing for the right of the British people to have a vote on any future EU Constitution really does expose the very worst aspect of the EU, its contempt for democracy, contempt for open government and an authoritarian response when faced with political legitimate dissent.

As Liberals we have always warned of the dangers of anti-terrorism legislation being abused to crush political dissent. This also gives us a stark warning of how the new EU superstate police would operate.

The EU is proposing that their police would be immune from prosecution. How convenient! We can see the same contempt for open government when staff whistle-blowing on corruption and financial mismanagement are dismissed or hounded out, rather than the commissioners responsible facing the music.

To those Britons who were deported, you have rendered a service to the cause of civil liberties, not just in the United Kingdom, but throughout Europe.

As can be seen from this the Liberal Party fully recognizes the EU for what it is. If the majority of our political class continue to pretend that it is other than a pseudo fascist organisation they will succeed in destroying the democracy we have spent so many years creating.

11/01/2004


More stupidity from Nissan

In response to yet another interference in our domestic affairs by a Japanese car manufacturer Lord Stoddart has written the following:

********

I see that there has been yet another tiresome effort by the President and Chief Executive of Nissan, Carlos Ghosen to involve himself in British politics. He is attempting to blackmail us into joining the euro, under threat of not building the latest model at the company's Sunderland plant.

In the first instance, British policy on EMU has to be decided on what is best for the whole country and not just for the benefit of Japanese car manufacturers. In the second place, the idea that Nissan would derive any benefit from Britain being part of EMU is frankly absurd, looking at recent evidence of the economic situation in euroland, which continues to hover on the brink of recession.

The Bundesbank's October 2003 report on 'Germany's competitive position and foreign trade within the eurozone' shows that there has been a marked increase in German foreign trade during the past four and a half years but that monetary union has played 'no more than a minor role in this'. Moreover, the report states that 'German foreign trade with non-euro-area countries has increased more sharply than intra-trade with the euro-area partner countries'. The clear inference being that Germany has benefited little from EMU membership and that it has done far better in trade outside of the EU. There is no reason to suppose that Britain's position and that of Nissan would have been any different if we were in the eurozone now. In fact, Britain's economic performance outside of the eurozone has been better than all of the other EU member states.

With car purchases at record levels in Britain, 2.6 million last year, but in decline across Europe, who does Mr Ghosen think he is kidding? Motor-car manufacturers should stay out of politics and would do well to remember the lessons of Britain's last experiment with European currency co-ordinationour disastrous membership of the ERM in the early 1990s. Interest rates soared to 15 per cent, thousands lost their homes and unemployment rose by 72 per cent in one year.

When people are out of work and can't afford their mortgages, the last thing they will be doing is buying cars!

********

We need no advice from this gentleman on how best to defend our democracy

08/01/2004


Don't trust any of the party leaderships

Eurorealists should beware of believing that all that is necessary to save our country is to return a Tory government. They should remember that no party is more culpable as far as embroiling us in the European project is concerned, recognize that the true Eurorealist leader, IDS, has been overthrown and make themselves aware of the current reality.

In a recent BBC programme Michael Howard declared that he was completely committed to Britain's membership of the EU. "Absolutely; I always have been. I've made it absolutely clear"

Howard, when Home Secretary, masterminded the division of the UK into Regions of the EU and has recruited Kenneth Clarke as an adviser

These facts do not augur well for the future and should be considered in the light of a recent article in The Times concerning the Damascene conversion of Gisela Stuart:

********

The Labour MP credited with kicking into touch the proposed European constitution challenged Tony Blair yesterday to do more to end the 'creeping' intrusion of Brussels into national life.

Gisela Stuart said that a complete reassessment of the EU was needed and that the Government should seriously question what the organisation was for and what it should control. Ms Stuart was Labour's representative on the convention that drew up the draft constitution but broke ranks to denounce it and demand that Britain refuse to approve it.

Yesterday she said: 'We need to decide the right level for decisions to be taken. Either we give more things to Brussels or we need to anchor decisions more firmly in national parliaments.' She wants the latter. The MP for Birmingham Edgbaston was relieved that Mr Blair refused to accept the constitution last month. Her own criticism of the deal was largely seen as sealing its fate. It was the way that the new constitution 'crept up' that most angered her. After just six months of debate, countries such as France and Germany put down markers, Ms Stuart revealed. She soon found that certain issues were simply no-go areas.

'It became clearer that certain concepts were not allowed to be questioned.' One of those was the question of the subsidiarity of national parliaments, the right of the Commons to make as many decisions relevant to Britain as possible. Ms Stuart said: 'That was completely rejected.'

After a while the no-go areas were so numerous that there was hardly anything to talk about. 'The areas we could work in became narrower and narrower. The last straw was that at the end of 16 months' work together we would not take votes.'

Ms Stuart said it was time to end the idea of taking Britain into Europe and try instead to bring Europe into Britain. She proposes creating a Secretary of State for Europe, who should be sent to Brussels and report back to the Commons.

Enlargement could go ahead and a streamlining of the various EU treaties could be achieved to make Europe work better, but it was time to end the concept of doing both things at once. 'Every time another country comes in, we start a process of centralising decisions. That may have reached its natural conclusion. Widening and deepening can no longer go together.'

Detailing the extraordinary events in Brussels that led to the bust-up over the constitution, Ms Stuart revealed that relations between the countries were so difficult that at one point representatives were reduced to squabbling over the words of a well-known German children's song that used the phrase 'wider world'.

The French and German negotiators seriously underestimated Ms Stuart's Britishness. Brought up in Munich by a mother who was a refugee from what is now the Czech Republic and a Bavarian father, Ms Stuart arrived in Manchester aged 18 to learn English.

'The Germans could not quite understand my attitude, they expected me to be one of them underneath. Then they discovered my origins and it was, "Oh my God, a Bavarian Brit!" In theory, at least, you don't get more Eurosceptic.'

Passionately she wants the EU to work but doubts whether the current structure is the right way. 'Twenty-five years ago we needed strict rules and laws, it was the only way to order it,' she said. 'Now the world has changed and our priorities have changed and that is my problem with the convention.'

********

Ms Stuart clearly has much further to travel on her road to the truth about the EU but she is well on her way!

For Eurorealists the lesson of all this must be that we cannot expect salvation by voting for a particular party. Rather we must support those of all democratic parties who oppose the EU. This is why CIB is a cross party organisation

04/01/2004


Who will save us now?

Two novels by Michael Dobbs, Winston's War and Never Surrender, show clearly how the British political class of the thirties almost succeeded in betraying this country into the hands of the Nazis by a combination of stupidity, naivete, cowardice and, for some, the pursuit of a narrow self interest. That they failed was due almost entirely to the courage and will of one man, Winston Churchill, whose whole life seemed a preparation for the task he took on in 1940.

Now we face another betrayal by our so called elites and this time they seem on course to succeed. Despite their failure to force through the EU constitution last month we can see that they are determined to return to the fray again and again, until they impose this rule by an unaccountable oligarchy upon the free peoples of Europe.

Any who think that these pseudo fascists have been defeated should reflect that only yesterday the EU arrest warrant came into force, putting every democrat who dares to defy Brussels at risk of deportation to an uncertain fate at the behest of corrupt magistrates anywhere in the EU.

This time there is no Churchill waiting in the wings to save us, the only mainstream politicians ready to stand up for democracy lacking the stature that he possessed and therefore unable to break the grip of the Vichy political class. If we are to prevent our nation being destroyed it seems that we will need to do it by ourselves.

02/01/2004


Index to News and Comment


Join CIB and set Britain free

Go to Head of Page