John Redwood

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Wokingham Times

It is a fitting end to the Blair years that his last days in office should be spent arguing with the other heads of government from European countries over yet more plans to centralise power on Brussels.

          When he swept into Downing Street in May 1997 he told us there would be no more bruising rows with the neighbours, no more cases where the UK was isolated at summits. He was sure he could persuade the British people to love Europe, join the Euro and  lead the federalists in a European direction that the UK welcomed.

         Ten years later, Mr Blair is a battered and wiser man. He now knows the British people will not accept the abolition of sterling as their currency, and are increasingly restless about the amount of power that has now been transferred to the EU from Westminster. He weaves and ducks in Brussels, to try to look as if he has won enough concessions to be able to back away from his promise of a referendum on a new Treaty.

          The UK last had a vote on our relationship with Europe as long ago as 1975. The question people were asked, was whether they wished to stay in a “Common market”? There was no mention of the wide ranging powers the EU has come to amass since, no suggestion from the political leaders of the day that we were about to see the creation of a strong European government, no hint that it would come to include a common foreign policy, common defence and common criminal law.

         I voted “No” in 1975 because I did not believe the reassurances of the then Labour government – or for that matter of the opposition parties either. The Treaty of Rome was clearly an integrationist Treaty.  Today many who did vote “Yes”  in 1975 regret their decision  and think they were misled. More importantly, no-one under the age of 53 has had any opportunity to vote on this colossal issue.

         That is why I think we should now have a vote on whether we want to sign up to yet more power to Brussels, or whether we prefer to keep our trading links but to get some powers back so we are more truly self governing. Mr Blair promised a referendum whether the Constitution was accepted elsewhere or not. The Opposition is demanding a referendum on any further surrender of powers to the EU. Mr Brown tells us he wishes to rebuild trust in politics and politicians. What better way to start than by honouring the government’s promise of a referendum on the EU, and asking the people what we think of the current state of the relationship?

        As this is a fast moving story I keep my constituents up to date on a regular basis through my daily comments on johnredwoodsdiary.com. If you do want to know more of my thoughts on this or many other live political topics, you will find them there. I have readers from London to New Zealand, from the USA to China. It would be good if more dropped in from home here in Wokingham, and left comments on what you think.