Ordinarily I would be gleeful at seeing the Conservative Party suffer a historically large rebellion within it's own ranks. Yesterday in response to a petition sent in by the public a vote was put to Parliament, to decide if a public referendum about this country's membership of the European Union should take place. The government and opposition voted against this referendum, the majority of votes for the referendum being from rebel Conservatives (111 votes were cast against, 80 of them rebel Tory votes).
Like I said ordinarily I would say good, what's bad for UKIP and the Tory 1922 Committee is good for me. And ultimately good for the country. Now I am not so sure.
If you ask many people about what the EU does many people wouldn't have much of a clue beyond it being involved in promoting trade in the continent. Yet the body is ever expanding, and even has its own Parliament. With this the body has gone on a law creating frenzy. Many of these laws automatically become entwined with our legal system, only occassionally coming under direct parliamentary scrutiny. Much of this is unsettlingly under the radar, we hardly take notice of it happening.
We vote in MPs because we want them to influence the formation of laws in ways we see fit. Already we substitute our interests to representatives in Parliament, this is the consensus to have us represented but prevent "mob rule". But by that logic the consensus is stretched a lot more when our country's let alone our own voting power declines, in the face of representatives from other countries, voting in a parliament of 25 nations. That isn't to say we are being taken over, that is to say it is harder to ensure that our interests are spoken up for in this wider forum.
Suddenly our interests are smaller fish in a bigger sea. It stands to reason that some people may worry about this. And they have a right to. Public concern in such institutions can be alleviated by measures that allow greater transparency to be introduced as well as measures to give them people more of a direct say.
People can put up with a lot. But one thing they are intolerant of is being promised to have a say in a big decision, then having that oppurtunity taken away from them. The previous government did it with the Lisbon Treaty and signed it, even when other EU member countries trusted their people enough to let them have a say. And now our government is responsible for snubbing the will of the people. It is as though the government turned around and said to the public "we are smarter than you, we have to make this important decision for you. Because we know best". By putting across this message our three main parties have effectively betrayed us all.
The EU have become an off limits debating topic. The more it does the less likely its very real faults will ever get attention. The inherent contradictions are there but somehow progress in solving them alludes us. This is because the UK main parties have made the EU a political pillar issue, meaning to mention it in a critical way is sure to get you labelled as a crazy isolationist.
Well I am not an isolationist. Far from it. I know why my party has no spine on the hard issues when it comes to the EU, vested interests. Our leader is a former MEP, that is why he used his recent public appearance to call for the scalps of Euro-sceptics. Our former shadow foriegn policy spokesman Ed Davie has had business links with Europe for many years, and the Europe revolving door extends further into the party. It is arguable that the opposite bias exists on the Tory bench, with much of the party favouring a closer relationship with the US. Labour tends to flop both ways in the extreme. The Lisbon Treaty was dooley signed, and our airspace was made available for the safe passage of US terror flights under New Labour.
This power bloc mentallity is embarrasingly simplistic. We need to start considering a balanced relationship with both power blocs, and appreciate the divisions within Europe especially. For instance some eastern European nations who have worked hard at spending wisely have scoffed at Greece, an early member of the EU not know for fiscal discipline yet getting in far earlier than the eastern bloc countries. Germany too is starting to wonder about the future of Europe since their capital is being used for many of the bailouts being carried out. And let us not forget about the BRIC countries, the rising powers. Less so Russia. Perhaps it is time we use more of our energy to reach out to them.
The EU started as a free trade body, yet not many of the member countries as a whole operate on purely free trade rules. Protectionism still exists. The EU Cap and Trade scheme is a sham, that has ended up giving money to some of the continent's most polluting industries. The EU parliament expenses report has been censored, not letting us know how OUR money has been spent. The French farmer still gets more agricultural subsidies while British farmers struggle to turn a profit. Serbia is given a fast track to talks after spontaneously pulling a war criminal out of its hat (more impressive than a rabbit trick any day of the week), yet Turkey struggles even to get talks about talks to enter the EU. And the final insult is that France, a country has now banned the burkha has criticised us for breaching human rights.
This will and has gone on for years. I think the EU and its advocates and detractors need to have an open debate. If the EU is worth saving then let us go to political war over it. If it is going to rob us blind more than it helps us then let us get out of it. At the very least we need to make the issue of the EU a lot more open to the public. More informative for sure. Part of that is giving people a reason to learn. Why look up something that you have no stake in? Give people power, and they, some at least will strive to be responsible.
But please, no more telling us the economy is too bad to make this decision. This issue will be less likely to be debated in the easy times, not more. Besides the economy is hardly ever rosey these days, but life goes on. And don't make leaving the EU akin to the country becoming an isolationist outpost of evil, slipping towards poverty. I doubt European countries will all simply stop trading with us if we left the EU, they have an interest in continuity in that regard as much as we do. Putting power out of people's hands is FEEDING anti-EU extremism, not reducing it.
If politicians want to destroy UKIP then fight them on their own terms. Hit them where they live, blow their single issue wide open. Then condemn them to obscurity for the rest of their natural lives. And at the same time make the EU seem less inhuman and more relevant to people's lives.
This Lib Dem wants an EU referendum, and condemns his leader for cheating the public out of what they have asked for.
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