Liberal And Democratic After All?

I admit that, like many people, I am still growing used to having to pay much attention to the Liberal Democrats. So I apologise that this is a month or so late, but I am nevertheless very grateful to the reader who sent me this reference to the influential activist website Lib Dem Voice (LDV):

Party members split over the future of Europe

LDV asked: Which of the following options would be your ideal future for the UK and the European Union?

46% – The UK should remain a full member of the EU and work towards ever closer union, economically and politically.
40% – The UK should remain a full member of the EU but reject working towards ever closer union, economically and politically.
10% – The UK should secure substantial renegotiation of its existing relationship with the EU but remain a full member.
3% – The UK should leave the EU altogether and instead negotiate a free trade agreement with the EU.
2% – Don’t know / No opinion

Though the Lib Dems are generally identified in the public’s minds as the most pro-European, it’s clear from our survey that party members’ views are more nuanced. Just under half, 46%, back ever closer political and economic union — but that leaves 53% arguing for a rejection of further integration between the UK and our European neighbours, including a minority who would like to see renegotiation or even the UK’s exit from the EU.

The results are broadly similar to when we last surveyed Lib Dem members in September, though with a small shift towards a more ‘eurosceptic’ position.

Almost three-quarters back new Eurozone rules

LDV asked: The Eurozone refers to the 17 of the 27 countries within the EU that use the Euro. The UK is not part of the Eurozone. In December, European leaders agreed new rules for the Eurozone which will mean that countries in the Eurozone will have to balance their budgets, there will be punishments for countries which run up deficits that are too large, and countries in the Eurozone will have their budgets monitored by the EU. Do you support or oppose these new rules?

73% – Support
15% – Oppose
12% – Don’t know / No opinion

Almost three-quarters of Lib Dem members we surveyed supported the new rule for the Eurozone countries, with just 15% opposed.

Cameron’s Euro ‘veto’ scores badly with Lib Dems…

How well or badly do you think David Cameron handled the negotiations on behalf of the UK at the European summit in December?

Very well – 2%
Well – 6%
Total well = 8%
Neither well nor badly – 8%
Badly 33%
Very badly 51%
Total badly = 84%
Don’t know / No opinion – 1%

Well the Prime Minister’s so-called ‘veto’ may have wowed the right-wing media in December, but it didn’t win him plaudits among Lib Dem members — a net 76% of those we surveyed felt Mr Cameron had handled the negotiations badly.

… And Nick Clegg’s handling of the ‘veto’ gets a mixed response

How well or badly do you think Nick Clegg handled the Liberal Democrat response to the European summit in December?

Very well – 9%
Well – 36%
Total well = 45%
Neither well nor badly – 23%
Badly – 21%
Very badly – 9%
Total badly = 30%
Don’t know / No opinion 2%

A bit of a mixed result for Nick Clegg, with fewer than half of the members in our survey believing he handled the Lib Dem response well.

Might Lib Dem Voice now consider surveying its readers on the restoration of the supremacy of British over EU law, on the repatriation of agricultural policy, on the restoration of the United Kingdom's historic fishing rights in accordance with international law, on the requirement that all EU law pass through the two Houses of Parliament exactly as if it had originated in one or the other, on the requirement that British Ministers adopt the show-topping Empty Chair Policy until such time as the Council of Ministers meet in public and publish an Official Report akin to Hansard, on the disapplication of any ruling either of the ECJ or of the ECHR unless ratified by a resolution of the Hosue of Commons (itself elected by a more representative system from among candidates who, if of parties, had by chosen by an open primary or similar system), and on the disapplication of anything passed by the European Parliament but not by the majority of those MEPs certified politically as acceptable by one or more seat-taking members of the House of Commons?

As someone to whom "protectionist", like "populist" or "elitist", is not a dirty word (I am strongly in favour of farm subsidies, which we had for 30 years before going into the EU), I do not believe that the CAP or the CFP is any such thing. They do not protect, but the very reverse. However, if the cry of anti-protectionism is the means by which to appeal to the heirs of either or both of the old Liberal Party and of the Labour tendency that became the SDP, then so be it.