UK Independence Party
Enfield & Haringey Branch
|
|
Home | Contacts & Links | Events | FAQ | Join Us | Policies | Newsletter Archive
Conservative European Policy
The Lisbon Treaty has now been signed by President Klaus and became part of EU law on 1st December. This is a situation which has been brought about by the Labour Party (aided by the Lib. Dems), who could have instigated a referendum at any time prior to the Treaty’s ratification. Given this situation, we have today announced a series of measures, which are summarised below and for which we will seek a mandate at the next general election.
The measures are essentially in three areas:
1. ‘Never Again’ unilateral measures which we can take ourselves
An Irish style ‘referendum lock’ on any treaty handing over further powers from Britain to the EU. We will amend the 1972 European Communities Act so that any future treaty which transfers competences (powers) from Britain to the EU would have to be subject to a referendum, as is already effectively the case in Ireland. We will campaign on challenging our opponents to confirm that they will never seek to overturn this.
JW: This is not possible as far as I know or understand. The reason is simple: the Lisbon Treaty carries within itself a clause obviating the need for any further treaties. The Lisbon Treaty/Constitution may self-amend. Why does Mr. Cameron not know this? Does he not know or is he dissembling? He needs to be reminded that none of the powers ‘transferred to the EU’ is capable of such transfer under Britain’s constitution.
A legal lock ensuring a referendum if any British government tries to take Britain into the euro. We are pledged never to take Britain into the euro, but to prevent any future British Government from trying to do so without a referendum, we will amend the 1972 Act to provide that safeguard too.
JW: By having incorporated the Lisbon Treaty into British law, not having the euro is not an option. The Lisbon Treaty provides for the euro to be the currency of the Union (state). The EU is or soon will be a state. Any state has one currency. Either the UK is in the EU (albeit wholly unconstitutionally) and is bound by its rules, or it is not. Dorset could not opt out of the constitution of the UK, for example.
A United Kingdom Sovereignty Bill, to ensure the ultimate sovereignty of the UK Parliament. Unlike many other European countries, Britain does not have a written constitution. Given the increasing amount of EU law with which we have to deal, we would amend the law to insert a sovereignty clause to make it explicit that, ultimately, Britain’s Parliament is sovereign and cannot be overruled by the EU against its will. This is similar in principle to the situation in Germany whereby the German Constitution (the Basic Law) is ultimately supreme. This would not mean striking down individual items of EU legislation but would provide ultimate constitutional safeguards against any attempts by EU judges to erode our sovereignty.<
JW: This is wholly unnecessary as our sovereignty cannot be ceded. Why doesn’t Mr. Cameron admit his party’s treachery, begun in 1972 and, seemingly, continuing? The EU is a suzerain and the member states are vassals - as any English county is a vassal to Westminster. The Germans, by ratifying the Lisbon Treaty have put their constitution into second place too.
Full Parliamentary control over the self-amending or ratchet clauses in the Lisbon Treaty. The Lisbon Treaty contains a number of ratchet clauses (sometimes called passerelles) whereby the powers of the EU could be expanded in the future without a new treaty. These clauses require all EU nations to agree, so we retain a national veto on their use. We do not believe that any of these ratchet clauses should be used to increase the EU’s powers but, as a safeguard, we would change the law so that using any passerelle would require a British government to pass an Act of Parliament (rather than a simple motion and a 90 minute debate, as currently proposed under Labour).
JW did not comment on this clause but the editor of the E & H newsletter says: “What a load of codswallop! The ratchet system (acquis communautaire) is part of the EU’s ‘inalienable possession’ and Britain had to accept it as a condition of entry to the Common Market in 1973. There is not, and never has been, a system of repatriation of competences (powers). Once the EU has been granted a particular power or competence, this can never be returned. Power can only be handed by individual states to the EU; never the other way round. The whole point of the acquis is that it is non-negotiable.”
2. British guarantees on the operation of Lisbon and social and employment legislation, which require negotiation with our EU partners. We will use the forthcoming general election deliberately to seek a mandate to negotiate British guarantees on the application of the Lisbon Treaty and on seeking to restore key powers to Britain.
JW: Aspects may “require negotiation” only if you believe that the UK could constitutionally be a member of the EU. Those “aspects” would only become what the UK wants if ALL 26 other states agreed. Not very likely!
These would include:
A full opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR). Tony Blair told us that he had obtained an opt-out from the CFR, but he did not. As Ministers have subsequently admitted, he only obtained a ‘clarification’ as to how it would apply. We want to upgrade this to a full opt-out so that the CFR, which for instance would interfere with our trade union legislation, cannot be made to apply in Britain.
JW: No ‘guarantee’ has any value as the Lisbon Treaty is self-amending. “Red lines” and “opt outs” are similarly worthless as all may be overridden at will by the EU.
Greater protection against EU encroachment into the UK’s Criminal Justice System. Lisbon provides us with an ‘opt-in’ over criminal justice matters but we want broader protection provided by an additional protocol. This would protect against EU judges extending their control over our Criminal Justice System, and we also want to ensure that only British authorities can initiate criminal investigations in Britain.
JW: How does Mr. Cameron think that the second clause in the last sentence sounds to the public? Of course only British authority can initiate criminal investigation in Britain.
Restoration of national control over social and employment legislation. Lastly, we want to restore national control over those parts of social and employment legislation which have proved most damaging to the British economy. For instance, we would seek guarantees over the application of the Working Time Directive in our public services, such as the fire service and the NHS.
JW: Every time Mr. Cameron says, “We want”, he is admitting to being in a junior position. The EU will do what it wants backed by the powers in its constitution (the Lisbon Treaty), including being consistent across the whole of the state being created.
We will establish a European Policy Committee of the Shadow Cabinet, chaired by William Hague, to work on the detail of these proposals.
JW: This would be a complete waste of time and is a clear admission of a disgraceful lack of knowledge of the EU’s constitution, motives and aims.
We will seek to give these measures legal effect by adding them to a future accession treaty. This is the same mechanism that will give effect to the ‘Irish guarantees’ and also the more recent ‘Czech guarantees’ and we would seek to mirror it for the above British guarantees too.
JW: There will be no further treaties. How often must Mr. Cameron be told?
3. The longer term
We will aim to implement these measures over the course of the next Parliament. We believe that they can stop Britain’s relationship with the EU from heading in the wrong direction. But if, over the lifetime of this Parliament, we do not succeed in negotiating the return of these powers; or if, in fact, the EU does move in the wrong direction, in those circumstances then of course we can return to this subject in a manifesto for the Parliament after that. This is not something we want to happen. Nor is it something we expect to happen. But if those circumstances were to occur, we would not rule out a referendum on a wider package of guarantees to protect our democratic decision-making, while remaining a member of the European Union. However, that would be a judgement for the future, not for this election or for the next Parliament.
JW: It’s too late! The only options are to endure it all or to LEAVE. Our democratic decision-making has already all but gone - effective 1st December 2009 with the (purported) incorporation into UK law of the Lisbon Treaty, a process Mr. Cameron’s party began with Heath’s lies from 1972.
In summary. A Conservative government will never allow us to become part of a federal Europe and we have devised a series of specific measures which will protect Britain from this. We will seek a mandate from the British people to implement these measures at the forthcoming general election.
JW: Again, it’s too late! The Lisbon Treaty creates the single-state of Europe and the UK is (subject to the unconstitutionality of its so-called membership) a part of it. By the way, as I pointed out to Mr. Cameron’s predecessor, Mr. Howard, in 2004, a single state cannot also be a federation. The EU will be a single state and will rule over the former ‘member states’ by having divided them into regions and administering those regions from Brussels and not via the state governments of those (former) states.