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View Full Version : The European Union has become a 'poison' on British politics, says Lord Dobbs



-:Undertaker:-
10-01-2014, 11:33 AM
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/eureferendum/10562877/EU-is-a-pestilence-says-referendum-pilot-Lord-Dobbs.html

EU is a pestilence, says referendum pilot Lord Dobbs

The European Union has become a 'poison' on British politics, the Conservative peer who will pilot the referendum Bill through the Lords has said


http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02656/DOBBS_2656366b.jpg
Lord Dobbs said the European Union had become a 'pestilence' that politicians had failed to deal with


The European Union has become a “poison in our political system” that can only be addressed through a in/out vote, the peer who will pilot the referendum Bill through the Lords has said.

Lord Dobbs, the author of House of Cards, said the European Union had become a “pestilence” that politicians had failed to deal with.

More than 70 peers have asked to speak in today’s second reading debate on the Bill, which would set in law a commitment to hold an in/out referendum on Britain's membership of the EU.

Lord Mandelson, the former European Commissioner, said a referendum was a “lottery” and the Prime Minister was “holding a pistol” of European leaders in order to appease voters who might vote for Ukip.

Lord Dobbs said no-one under the age of sixty had had a say on Britain’s role in Europe, following the last vote on British membership in 1975. The bloc has “changed beyond imagination” in the years since.

“It’s become a pestilence. It’s become a poison in our political system. It dominates so much of our political dialogue here and we need to get rid of this burden. We need to decide one way or the other whether we are going to stick with Europe or whether we are going to leave it.

“It is not the politicians who are going to sort this out because we failed all these years to sort it out; it’s going to be the people who sort this out,” he said. “The political elites have made a real mess of this.”

David Cameron’s hope is to reform the relationship with Europe by repatriating powers, ahead of a referendum vote in 2017, in which he hopes Britain would remain a member. Lord Dobbs declined to say how he would vote if there were a referendum tomorrow.

Some have criticised the Bill because one Parliament cannot bind the decisions of one voted in at a later date.

“I cannot see how anybody could describe giving the people a vote on their future – one of the most serious votes we’ve ever had – as a charade. It is not a charade. And it’s because of the failure of politicians that we need to get on with this now,” he said.

Lord Mandelson, the former Labour Cabinet Minister, accused the Conservative Party of grandstanding, and said Mr Cameron was unlikely to get the reforms he wants by “holding a pistol to Europe’s head” and threatening to leave.

His strategy would leave Britain on the “periphery” and unable to influence important appointments.

“I think by in effect threatening the rest of Europe with our exit if we don’t get exactly what we want will diminish, not enhance, our ability to get much needed reform in Europe,” he said.

“I certainly think that politicians need to take a decisive lead on Europe, I think that’s what the public wants. That’s why I think that instead of grandstanding over a referendum and playing to the UKIP gallery, as people in the Conservative party are doing, I think the Government should go this year quietly, patiently, but persistently, setting out its reform agenda in the rest of Europe, winning those arguments and gaining allies.

“I just don’t think in Brussels or Berlin or Paris you’re going to gain an audience and the support you need by holding a pistol to Europe’s head and saying ‘agree with us on everything we want or we’re leaving’. I don’t think that’s the right way to win the central argument for reform.”

He went on: “I think it’s very easy to sort of whip up public opposition and hostile sentiment towards the European Union, just as it is possible to whip up a lot of public sentiment against our own political institutions and against our own government, because people are very worried, they’re very anxious in the current economic circumstances about their jobs, about the cost of living.

"People are not happy, and it’s not hardtop whip up sentiment against politicians, and particularly politicians in a relatively remote set of institutions, with rather opaque decision-making by those who hold the reigns in Brussels.

"Our priority this year should be to put our people in the most important posts, reflecting the policy priorities which are most important for British interests.”

I agree with the views of Lord Dobbs, not Lord Mandelson. This morning we've also had another attack launched at Britain over the EU, this time by Vice-Commissioner of the EU Viviane Reding who says David Cameron is 'lying' to the British public: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/10562740/David-Cameron-lying-to-British-voters-about-the-EU-and-immigration-Viviane-Reding-claims.html ...I agree, although i'd argue not in the way she and the Commission see it.

Y'know, whether you like Nigel Farage and UKIP there is one thing for certain - from the EU to immigration to even pensions: he's got the lot of them (including Labour and the Liberal Democrats) by the short and curlys. I hope he keeps pulling.

Here's what a Tory insider said the other day for instance...


Tim Montgomerie ‏@TimMontgomerie 6 Jan

Tory insiders say they'd be tougher on pension benefits if UKIP didn't exist. "We can't afford more core vote defections to Farage" I'm told

Thoughts?

FlyingJesus
10-01-2014, 01:49 PM
Breaking news: someone who doesn't like Europe says something bad about Europe

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