Our Country's Destiny

Mark Seddon writes:

Just as the country’s politicians were caught napping when the riots broke out, they were caught dozing when key decisions affecting the world economy were taken this week by Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France. The leaders’ crucial mini-summit in Paris was designed to reassure panicking global financial markets the crisis in the Eurozone could be averted. As share prices across Europe suffered a second day of sharp falls yesterday (with London’s FTSE 100 down 1.01 per cent, Germany’s Dax tumbling 2.19 per cent and France’s Cac dropping by 1.92 per cent), they may have failed to steady the nerves but they managed to do something much more vital for the future of Europe.

As the single currency system implodes under the inherent folly of a ‘one size fits all’ financial system, Merkel and Sarkozy have finally realised that the only sane solution is to guide their creaking Eurozone countries into fiscal and political union. They have decided to create, in effect, a new ‘Eurozone Government’ and in doing so have dramatically dismissed worries about the threat to national sovereignty this entails. Admittedly, they were forced to act out of sheer desperation to prevent the spread of Greek-style crises to Italy and Spain. Indeed, Europe’s leaders are beginning to resemble the Chinese Politburo — albeit without the Communists’ ruthless efficiency.

However, the question in Britain remains: why haven’t we heard from Messrs Cameron, Clegg and Miliband as these huge decisions are taken? Britain may not be part of the single currency system, but last year it was decided that (under Article 122 of the Lisbon Treaty) we and other non-Eurozone countries in the EU must, if necessary, contribute billions to any bail-outs. So British taxpayers have already coughed up huge sums to rescue Ireland and Greece. What’s more, the Merkel/Sarkozy decision means British taxpayers risk having to pay even more money to bail out other bankrupt Eurozone countries.

This is an issue of incalculable importance. So why aren’t British politicians queuing up to defend us taxpayers from having our money spent to save other countries from the results of their own reckless economic policies? From their silence, do we assume they are happy that the unaccountable European Central Bank is now dictating economic policies across the Eurozone which also affect Britain? This is all part of a much bigger political debate and begs the question whether MPs have the courage to speak up for Britain and begin the vital process of repatriating aspects of our sovereignty ceded to Europe. Many of our politicians seem incapable of doing anything more than mouthing platitudes. They should be telling voters how they plan to kickstart the economy.

Those of us who opposed Britain joining the European single currency when it was first mooted have always believed that it would work only if there was a European Superstate with fiscal and political union. A decade on from the creation of the euro (something that not a single European country voted for explicitly in a referendum), it is obvious that attempts to yoke together hugely divergent economies (such as healthy Germany and basket-case Greece) have become an unmitigated disaster. It was inevitable, therefore, that without fiscal union there would have to be a ‘two-speed’ Europe, comprising the central Eurozone countries on the one hand, and the ‘rag, tag and bobtail’ rest — including Britain.

Consequently, Cameron, Clegg and Miliband look on like mesmerised rabbits in the glare of the Eurozone juggernaut. They may not like what is happening, but one thing is certain: none of our party leaders has made a single public utterance this week that suggests they know how to deal with Europe’s debt mountain and the unfolding political crisis. As for the British public, a majority of voters — of all parties — have remained lukewarm when confronted by the enthusiasm expressed towards the European superstate by so much of our ruling elite. Indeed, Labour chiefs were surprised when a recent internal party survey of voter attitudes showed that a majority of Labour supporters are deeply sceptical about the EU.

Such views are much stronger among grassroot Tories. So why does a Tory-led Coalition Government give more than £8.3 billion net every year to the EU, while this country has less than 10 per cent of the vote in EU institutions? It has been calculated that 80 per cent of laws in Germany now emanate from EU directives and regulations. The same must be true of Britain. This being the case, it is not surprising that our own Parliament begins to look like a county council — because real power now lies elsewhere.

When I was a member of Labour’s National Executive Committee, I used to ask Tony Blair why his Government was preparing to privatise the Post Office. He blamed this on the fact that we had to conform to European Competition policy. This is the same reason why the British Government awarded a major contract to a German company rather than to the Derby-based train-maker Bombardier, with the resultant loss of 1,400 jobs. The decision to place the order abroad was blamed on the way our government had drawn up procurement contracts to comply with EU trade rules and which had put British interests at a disadvantage.

The last time British voters were given a say on Europe was in 1975, when asked in a referendum if they wished to remain members of what was then called the ‘European Economic Community’. Each major constitutional and economic decision since then involving Europe has been made without a proper democratic mandate. No wonder increasing numbers of Britons — of all political persuasions — are now demanding that powers should be returned from Brussels and are calling for the restoration of our democracy.

Now that Merkel and Sarkozy have arrogantly signalled that Britain’s position is in the ‘second tier’ of EU member states, behind a Franco-German core, will our pusillanimous politicians come to our rescue? Their action — or, more to the point, lack of it — is hardly auspicious. Principally, David Cameron must acknowledge that the overwhelming majority of Tories are anti-EU.

Equally, if Ed Miliband were smart, he would make common cause with those Tories who will launch a rebellion against Cameron if he allows Europe to have more powers through a beefed-up Lisbon Treaty. Given this week’s historic developments in Paris, Britain has a stark choice: we can either elect politicians who we can hold to account — or we can let faceless European bureaucrats and their unelected cronies dictate our country’s destiny.