EU debate announced

 

At the start of the month we held a joint debate with the Daily Express about Britain’s relationship with the European Union. Aptly titled “We need to talk about Europe”, the point was made time and time again that discussion about Europe was being stifled despite the fact that it is an issue so many people feel strongly about, one way or another.

Apart from a minority of politicians who have consistently championed the issue, and debates over some statutory instruments, there has not been a substantial discussion about Britain’s relationship with the EU in the House of Commons for some time. It appears things might be about to change.

On tuessay, the backbench business committee approved David Nuttal MP’s motion for a debate on whether there should be a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU. On Monday 24 October MPs will discuss this motion:

“This House calls upon the Government to introduce a Bill in the next session of Parliament to provide for the holding of a national referendum on whether the United Kingdom

(a) should remain a member of the European Union on the current terms;

(b) leave the European Union; or

(c) re-negotiate the terms of its membership in order to create a new relationship based on trade and co-operation.”

The motion was originally scheduled to be debated on Thursday but has been brought forward to Monday under the auspices of allowing the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary to attend.

While any vote in the debate will not bind the Government, it will take place against a highly-charged political background. While Greece burns and European leaders pontificate about how to get out of the debt crisis engulfing the Eurozone (tip: the answer is not more debt), there is growing anger at both the damaging effect of EU regulations in the British economy and the waste and profligacy that is commonplace across EU institutions. The latest example of the Eurocrats’ bizarre spending habits was exposed when we learned the £15 million cost of the EU’s new propaganda temple, the EU Parliamentarium.

The Daily Politics show visited the EU theme park and found EU officials more interested in eating cake than saving hard pressed taxpayers’ money:

Most national governments need to make big savings, but EU officials feel they are immune to the need to cut costs and consistently demand shocking increases in their budget. The disconnect between the priorities of taxpayers across Europe and the political agenda of the Eurocrats is stark. The scene is set for a passionate debate in the House of Commons.

It’s also worth noting that on Saturday The People’s Pledge will be holding their Congress for an EU referendum in Methodist Central Hall, Westminster. Speakers attending are from across the political divide, including both those supporting and opposing Britain’s membership of the EU. I will be there, along with our Political Director Jonathan Isaby and our Research Director John O’Connell. You can still get tickets and feel free to introduce yourself if you see us.

So how likely is it that the vote will pass? It’s reported that the Prime Minister may order Conservative MPs to vote against the referendum despite it containing a “third-way renegotiation option” similar to Conservative party manifesto commitments. A number of Eurosceptic Tories will undoubtedly defy the whips but the Government may face a wider rebellion from new intake MPs, fed up of being bossed around and unhappy at pressure to vote against a referendum they support. For many, the renegotiation option will be highly appealing and may encourage them to support the motion on Thursday. MPs facing local constituency re-selection meetings as a result of the boundary review might not want to face Eurosceptic activists, having voted against giving the public a chance to vote on the relationship with the EU (a vote that no one under the age of 54 has ever had in this country).

And what will Labour do? They face the same questions over whether they want to give the public a say in Europe, with the added political dimension of the chance to inflict a bloody nose on the Coalition Government who could be split over this issue, given that the Liberal Democrats tend to support the European Union.

The congress on Saturday and the debate on the 27^th are likely to be lively. Regardless of the outcome, one thing is clear: we need to talk about Europe.

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