-:Undertaker:-
08-05-2013, 09:36 PM
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/05/08/michael-portillo-uk-eu_n_3240187.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003&ir=UK
Michael Portillo Calls For UK To Leave European Union, Criticises Cameron's Insincerity On Referendum
- Comes after former Chancellor Lord Lawson backed economic and political cases for leaving.
- Also emerges that Margaret Thatcher backed withdrawal her biographer confirms.
- Top German politician who helped create the Euro calls for it to be dissolved.
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1127888/thumbs/o-MICHAEL-PORTILLO-570.jpg?7
Former Conservative cabinet minister Michael Portillo has become the latest Tory heavyweight to argue that Britain should leave the European Union - and claims that the Prime Minister is "insincere" in his promise to grant an In-Out referendum.
In an op-ed for The Times, Portillo said he was unsure that the Tories would win the next general election in 2015. "They didn’t win the last one and it is extremely rare for governing parties to improve their share of the vote, even when their opponents are as weakly led as Labour and the Liberal Democrats are now," he said.
Writing in The Times on Tuesday, the former Conservative chancellor Lord Lawson said there was now a "clear" case for withdrawal, insisting the economic benefits would "substantially outweigh the costs".
And he said David Cameron's plan to negotiate a looser relationship with the EU as "virtually impossible" - once again exposing the split within the Tory party over the issue of Europe.
Eurosceptic MPs, emboldened by the succes of Nigel Farage's UK Independence Party, had urged the Tory leadership to include a referendum bill for this parliament in the Queen's speech - but no such legislations was mentioned.
Portillo said he did not agree with Lord Lawson that Labour would be likely to match the Tories' promise of a referendum.
He accused Tory ministers of "whinging" about Europe but being unprepared to back withdrawal. "The default position of the political class is defeatism: the belief that Britain could not survive outside the union; and the political class assumes that the public shares its defeatism."
"I would vote “no” and fervently hope that the British have more guts than those who govern us, and more than those who govern us think we have."
He said the "disasterous" Euro had "created hardship, unemployment and division on a dangerous scale."
"The UK is unhappy in the EU. We do not share its vision, partly because we are not visionary by temperament. We are not so easily convinced that the EU is a necessary response to the horrors of the Second World War because our experience of that war was different. We did not endure revolution, dictatorship or invasion.
"Other countries may look to institutions at the European level because they doubt the durability of national institutions that perished in that conflict. We do not, because ours survived."
Downing Street said the prime minister remained "confident" that his strategy "will deliver results".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/10045061/Margaret-Thatcher-wanted-Britain-to-leave-the-EU.html
Margaret Thatcher 'wanted Britain to leave the EU'
Baroness Thatcher believed that Britain should leave the European Union, her biographer has revealed.
http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/dyn-graphics/image-430/margaret-thatcher13.jpg
Charles Moore’s disclosure will fuel the growing Conservative debate over Europe, which has put pressure on David Cameron to take a harder line on EU membership
In the latest sign of unease on the issue, Conservative MPs yesterday warned that they will use the new session of Parliament to force a Commons vote on a law guaranteeing Britain a referendum after the next election.
Writing in the Spectator, Mr Moore said Lady Thatcher had reached the conclusion that Britain would be better off out in the 1990s following the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992.
However, Lady Thatcher, who left No 10 in 1990, decided not to make her views explicit, Mr Moore said: “Advisers had persuaded her that she should not say this in public since it would have allowed her opponents to drive her to the fringes of public life.”
In her memoirs, published in 2002, Lady Thatcher insisted that it was not “unthinkable” for Britain to leave, adding: “The blunt truth is that the rest of the European Union needs us more than we need them.”
Lord Lawson (previously a staunch supporter of the EU project) earlier this week was an amazing aide to the out side, but now it emerges that Michael Portillo (which I didn't expect at all) and Thatcher back/backed withdrawal.
The trickle is turning into a flood, meanwhile YouGov have UKIP (who they don't prompt in the question like the other parties) at their highest ever tonight with the firm on 17% nationally with Tories on lowest poll rating since 2001.
YouGov -
LAB 38%
CON 27%
UKIP 17%
LDEM 11%
...and I know it's another damned EU thread, but boy are events moving fast this week. Can't pass up on posting more good news. :P
Thoughts?
Michael Portillo Calls For UK To Leave European Union, Criticises Cameron's Insincerity On Referendum
- Comes after former Chancellor Lord Lawson backed economic and political cases for leaving.
- Also emerges that Margaret Thatcher backed withdrawal her biographer confirms.
- Top German politician who helped create the Euro calls for it to be dissolved.
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1127888/thumbs/o-MICHAEL-PORTILLO-570.jpg?7
Former Conservative cabinet minister Michael Portillo has become the latest Tory heavyweight to argue that Britain should leave the European Union - and claims that the Prime Minister is "insincere" in his promise to grant an In-Out referendum.
In an op-ed for The Times, Portillo said he was unsure that the Tories would win the next general election in 2015. "They didn’t win the last one and it is extremely rare for governing parties to improve their share of the vote, even when their opponents are as weakly led as Labour and the Liberal Democrats are now," he said.
Writing in The Times on Tuesday, the former Conservative chancellor Lord Lawson said there was now a "clear" case for withdrawal, insisting the economic benefits would "substantially outweigh the costs".
And he said David Cameron's plan to negotiate a looser relationship with the EU as "virtually impossible" - once again exposing the split within the Tory party over the issue of Europe.
Eurosceptic MPs, emboldened by the succes of Nigel Farage's UK Independence Party, had urged the Tory leadership to include a referendum bill for this parliament in the Queen's speech - but no such legislations was mentioned.
Portillo said he did not agree with Lord Lawson that Labour would be likely to match the Tories' promise of a referendum.
He accused Tory ministers of "whinging" about Europe but being unprepared to back withdrawal. "The default position of the political class is defeatism: the belief that Britain could not survive outside the union; and the political class assumes that the public shares its defeatism."
"I would vote “no” and fervently hope that the British have more guts than those who govern us, and more than those who govern us think we have."
He said the "disasterous" Euro had "created hardship, unemployment and division on a dangerous scale."
"The UK is unhappy in the EU. We do not share its vision, partly because we are not visionary by temperament. We are not so easily convinced that the EU is a necessary response to the horrors of the Second World War because our experience of that war was different. We did not endure revolution, dictatorship or invasion.
"Other countries may look to institutions at the European level because they doubt the durability of national institutions that perished in that conflict. We do not, because ours survived."
Downing Street said the prime minister remained "confident" that his strategy "will deliver results".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/10045061/Margaret-Thatcher-wanted-Britain-to-leave-the-EU.html
Margaret Thatcher 'wanted Britain to leave the EU'
Baroness Thatcher believed that Britain should leave the European Union, her biographer has revealed.
http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/dyn-graphics/image-430/margaret-thatcher13.jpg
Charles Moore’s disclosure will fuel the growing Conservative debate over Europe, which has put pressure on David Cameron to take a harder line on EU membership
In the latest sign of unease on the issue, Conservative MPs yesterday warned that they will use the new session of Parliament to force a Commons vote on a law guaranteeing Britain a referendum after the next election.
Writing in the Spectator, Mr Moore said Lady Thatcher had reached the conclusion that Britain would be better off out in the 1990s following the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992.
However, Lady Thatcher, who left No 10 in 1990, decided not to make her views explicit, Mr Moore said: “Advisers had persuaded her that she should not say this in public since it would have allowed her opponents to drive her to the fringes of public life.”
In her memoirs, published in 2002, Lady Thatcher insisted that it was not “unthinkable” for Britain to leave, adding: “The blunt truth is that the rest of the European Union needs us more than we need them.”
Lord Lawson (previously a staunch supporter of the EU project) earlier this week was an amazing aide to the out side, but now it emerges that Michael Portillo (which I didn't expect at all) and Thatcher back/backed withdrawal.
The trickle is turning into a flood, meanwhile YouGov have UKIP (who they don't prompt in the question like the other parties) at their highest ever tonight with the firm on 17% nationally with Tories on lowest poll rating since 2001.
YouGov -
LAB 38%
CON 27%
UKIP 17%
LDEM 11%
...and I know it's another damned EU thread, but boy are events moving fast this week. Can't pass up on posting more good news. :P
Thoughts?