Following
discussion with European Leaders, Tony Blair has recently announced that he
wants to move quickly towards an EU Constitution, as he thinks it would be a
good thing for Britain. Leaders have agreed to finalise the EU Constitution at
the next meeting of the IGC on the 17th-18th June, one week after the European
Elections.
Conservative’s
in Brighton and Hove have renewed their call for the people to be given a chance
to have their say in a referendum. Last
year the Conservative Group put down a motion to the City council asking that
the authority write to Tony Blair lobbying for a referendum on this incredibly
important issue. This motion was
passed.
Mike
Weatherley, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Brighton Pavilion and
Nicholas Boles who is standing for the Tories in Hove, have joined forces to
ensure more powers are not lost to our continental neighbours.
The two parliamentary hopefuls are also highlighting the appalling record
of the European Commission to stamp out what can only be described as
“institutional corruption”. The UK is a net contributor to the EU, and it is plain wrong
that British taxpayers money can be frittered away so easily.
Mike
Weatherley said: "If Mr Blair thinks this is such a good idea, then why
won't he let the people decide? It is now crystal clear that he wants to sign
Britain up to a European Constitution as soon as possible.”
“This
Constitution will profoundly change the relationship between Britain and the EU.
A clear sign that the Government is prepared to relax its so-called
“red lines” protecting UK sovereignty came earlier when Foreign Office
minister Denis MacShane said the UK was now ready to accept common EU laws
covering the arrest and charging of criminal suspects.”
“As
this latest red line crumbles Tony Blair’s claim to leadership in Europe
becomes more ridiculous. It is absurd for the Government to claim that they
welcome this when they spent two years fighting this proposal off. The whole
story of this EU Constitution is of Labour U-turn after U-turn and a failed
Government damage limitation exercise.”
Nicholas
Boles added: “This dangerous
document will change how Britain is governed. The British people must have the
right to decide in a referendum. Tony Blair has no right to impose it on the
British people without their agreement. Tony Blair must give the British people
a final say in are referendum, and he should give that commitment now.
June 10th, the day people in Brighton and Hove will be going
to the polls in the European Parliament Elections, is the final chance to send
the Prime Minister a clear message. We
do not want a European super-state and we want to remain a nation state with the
trade benefits of being in Europe. In Europe, not run by Europe. On
June the 10th there is a clear choice, vote Labour and this country
will be governed even more from Europe, vote Conservative and we will maintain
the right to govern ourselves. Labour
are Europe’s representative in the UK, the Conservatives are the UK’s
representative in Europe.”
Amid
all the arguments about the Euro-constitution, we are forgetting to ask a very
basic question: Is the EU good at what it does? Before handing over a new
tranche of powers, it is surely sensible to look at what Brussels is doing with
the powers it already has. Recently, the Court of Auditors published a report into
precisely this. For the ninth year in a row, the auditors found so many flaws in
the EU budget that they refused to approve it. This ought to have been massive
news: here, after all, is evidence that the institutions which Tony Blair wants
to put in charge of our legal system, our energy reserves and our economy,
cannot be trusted to administer themselves. Yet it barely made the inside pages
of the broadsheets.
Mike
asks: “Why are we not more
concerned? Partly, I suspect, because we take Euro-sleaze so much for granted,
and partly because the report was long and difficult. None the less, it ought to
matter to us a great deal: how else can we judge the EU if not by its record?
The most striking thing about the document is that it reveals a systemic
problem. We are not dealing with isolated cases of human frailty, but with what
Lord Macpherson would call institutional corruption.”
“Despite what many British sceptics believe, there is no evidence that graft is more common in southern Europe. Surveys of farms to corroborate the subsidies being claimed, for example, showed as many irregularities in Sweden and Luxembourg as in Italy or Greece. Across Europe, whenever people know that a pot of money is waiting to be claimed, they organise their affairs around qualifying for it. And because the money comes from Brussels, national authorities have little interest in stopping them.”
There
are five very clear and good reasons why people should vote Conservative on June
10.
·
Delivering
for Britain
Conservative MEPs put Britain first.
They believe that promoting British interests is their top priority in
the European Parliament. Labour and
Liberal Democrat MEPs see themselves as Europe’s representatives in Britain. Labour and Liberal Democrat MEPs want the EU to have more
powers. Conservative MEPs are
fighting for a Europe that interferes less in our affairs and is more
accountable.
·
Campaigning
for a Referendum on the EU Constitution
85% of British people agree with the Conservative Party that the EU
Constitution should be put to a referendum before Britain signs up .
Labour and Liberal Democrats want to sign up to the Constitution as soon
as possible and Tony Blair is refusing to let the British people decide for
themselves.
·
Boosting
British Business and Jobs
Conservative MEPs want to open up new opportunities for British business
across Europe to create jobs and increase prosperity.
There must be fewer regulations and less red tape from Brussels.
Labour and Liberal Democrat MEPs vote every day for new job-destroying EU
regulations and red tape that damages the competitiveness of British business.
·
Standing
up for British Farmers and Fisherman
Conservative MEPs make sure that the voice of British farmers and
fishermen is heard in the European Parliament.
The EU’s policies on Agriculture and Fisheries have a major impact on
those industries in the UK so it is vital that British interests are well
represented. Labour and Liberal
Democrat MEPs show little interest in rural issues. It was a labour minister from Westminster and a Liberal
Democrat Minister form Scotland who signed up to the disastrous Common Fisheries
Policy deal, which has seen 40% of the UK whitefish fleet scrapped in the past
two yers.
·
Fighting
Fraud and Waste in the EU
Conservative MEPs are at the forefront of the fight against fraud, waste,
mismanagement in the EU. A series
of whistleblowers have brought their concerns directly to Conservative MEPs,
because they know their complaints will be listened top and acted upon. Labours EU Commissioner Neil Kinnock has been in charge of
reforming the European Commission since 1999, but a series of well publicised
scandals have shown that he has failed. The
Liberal Democrats described an EU mismanagement scandal involving millions of
pounds as a “storm in a teacup”.
On
1 May it will reach the borderlands of the old USSR.
It
will then glide into the Balkans in 2007, and in theory it could land in Turkey
10 years from now, giving "Europe" a border with Iraq.
The EU is destined to grow from 15 to 25 members. It has never been so important to keep a close watch on developments on the continent. Our future is in our hands.