Good to see that leadership candidates now accept what I've been saying for months: that Labour should have proposed a referendum on the EU Late but good. Now however we can't just throw our votes behind Cameron who isn't negotiating seriously,who's putting forward only trivial demands and who,come the vote,will be saying we should stay in and relying on fear to get folk to vote to stay
Saying the EU is wonderful is not policy. Labour must now say what we want out of re-negotiation, particularly over lower contributions which presently are a sizeable part of our growing balance of payments deficit
Having set out what reforms are necessary to make the EU work for Britain and announced that our vote is conditional on the necessary changes which would allow us to undercut the SNP it's time to look again at our reasons for staying in the EU most of which are such fairy tales that they only demonstrate how little we understand the dynamics of growth and economics .Here's a sample:-
1)The EU preserves peace in Europe Balls Tony Blair had to get the U.S. To act on Kosovo cos the EU wouldn't. Look what a mess it's made by interfering in Ukraine NATO preserves peace. The EU provokes bitter arguments
2)Three million jobs are threatened if we leave .Balls again We have a huge deficit in trade we the EU .If it were stopped they'd suffer more than us. So it won't be
3)Negotiating as a group enhances B ritain's power. Even more balls The EU negotiating position is always diluted to the needs of the many. In the TITP negotiations the French got culture and media omitted.We can't get the NHS excluded
4)If we attack them they'll harden against us. Childish twaddle
5)The benefits of membership outweigh the costs. Absolutely wrong. We have a sizeablettrade deficit,pay over the odds lose much of our fish,pay more for. Their overpriced food we can't control immigration. What are the benefits? When and where do we see them?
6)Better to belong to a bigger market. Mini balls when that market ha been turned into the high unemployment low growth black spot of the advanced world by the folly of the Euro which will never work but does manage to keep the German exchange rate down so that they can take our markets.
7)Britain gains access to a larger market :we' still have it if we left as we have to the American. In any case it' easier to supply and even dominate as small market from a large one than vice versa and we've been duly penetrated.
8) Harmonisation helps trade : but the tax fiddles offered by Luxembourg and Ireland allow firms making their profts in Britain to dodge their taxes here
9) Britain is European. You could have fooled me. We've always looked to the wider world and the Commonwealth whose kith and kin we are now excluding to let in more Eastern Europeans
10) Better to be part of a larger block. Even bigger balls.Advantage lies with smaller nations who can determine their own priorities, navigate their own course and don't have to dilute it for fuckwits. Britain can get better deals on its own
So it goes on. The arguments for membership are either fairy tales or myths propagated by idealists who want unity but don't understand simple economics
The basic question remains. Do we need to belong to this old hat and over regulated expansive bureaucratic monolith dedicated to an ever closer union we don't want just because the vested interests want to stay and we're scared they'll retaliate if we leave Do we? EU might. I don't.
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