Oct 04 2007
Why Eurosceptics should want an early election
I would love an election before the dirty deal has been on the Constitutional Treaty, and before it is frogmarched through the Commons with support from the Lib Dems.
It will give us an added boost, offering people the chance to vote for a referendum and to kill the Constitution. The Sun reckons the two main parties are neck and neck if Gordon Brown continues to refuse a referendum. In the heat of a lively election campaign where we make the referendum an issue of trust it could swing more votes our way. Somehow we need to get across to the country that this is the last chance to stop a major transfer of power to Brussels, and to remind them that their sensible views on the EU are ignored by the current inbuilt Lab/Lib Dem federalist majority.
It is high time the Eurosceptic majority was represented by a similar majority in Parliament. The sooner the better to bring this about.
John Redwood has been the Member of Parliament for Wokingham since 1987. First attending Kent College, Canterbury, he graduated from Magdalen College...
I have very mixed feelings about this post.
It was not so long ago that a prominent individual on this very blog said that the Tories had tried Euroscepticism over the last ten years and it had been unsuccessful. I disagreed with you then, from my personal observation I know that any time a prominent Tory ventured onto Eurosceptic territory, the “Big Cats” are wheeled out by the BBC and start briefing against the party.
I have in mind people like Kenneth Clarke, who is not averse to attacking the party if he thinks it is becomming too patriotic.
If there is a Tory “EUrosceptic majority” among the ‘rank and file’, even if there is a “EUrosceptic majority” in the Country at large, the Tories, do them and themselves a disservice by becomming noticibly more EUrosceptic whenever an election is looming. then between elections retreating from that position. This is a pattern I have observed time and again.
The period between elections are the time to be putting in place a coherent intellectual position that candidates can then draw on in the run up to the election. That position may not always be popular, but if it is internally coherent it can stand the criticisms of ‘our’ opponents.
If ‘localism’ is good for british people at a local authority and individual level, then by inference LOCALISM is likely to be good for people at a national level too. There are things that can and probably ought to be done by cooperation between states, that in my opinion does not include telling local communities how to deal with their rubbish collections, so for example, we do not need a European wide rubbish disposal or recycling policy, still less one that is mandatory.
It does not even include, how water should be distributed throughout the country, nor should we be constrained in how we run our industry ( Ideally, with as little management from government as possible), or how to organise our rail or transport systems, by the needs of Germany or Bulgaria. These things are suited to a more local control.
I still have grave doubts about David Cameron, I have this uneasy feeling he is simply grasping at the latest populist issue, Greenery having backfired in his face!
It is odd, that after his flirting with the left, his brief affair with Polly Toynbe, and his encounter in a dark alley with tax increases, he should find his way back to what appears to be traditional Tory policies. It is encouraging, but can he be relied on to stick it out?
One final thing, If localism is a good thing, would you advise Cameron to give the party back to the party members? Lets not have any more of “David Camerons conservative party”, such things are an insult to Tories. The party is the membership or it is nothing. Has Cameron learned that?
Reply: Of course the party belongs to its members, who voted David Cameron in as Leader. I voted for him because he has always made clear he a) opposes the Euro b) opposes the EU constitution c) wants a referendum d) wants powers back from Brussels.
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I agree, we need an election that can be billed as a referendum on the EU treaty(sic)
I agree we need to put the facts before the public, but is it me or is there a bias in the media against the Conservatives? Straight after the speech by Mr Cameron, rather than going for reaction as they did following Mr Brown’s and Mr Campbell’s speech, Sky TV showed ten year old cctv footage about the late Princes Diana and Dodi Fayad. In my view the BBC shows a bias against the Conservatives despite their charter on impartiality. How do we get our message across? Is there really a monoploy situation in the media with the size and interest of some media groups and is it in our interest to have foreign owned media empires effectively controlling much of our media output?
If the latter is the case what can and should we do about it?
Reply: The Sun, Mail and Telegraph are with us on the EU and the referendum. A General Election gives us more opportunities to make our case.
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JR:
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