Tagged with EU

Boris Johnson: vanity and opportunism

Boris Johnson with EU & UK FlagsThe part-time Mayor of London, part-time MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, and full-time self-promoter Boris Johnson shocked nobody earlier today when he came out for Vote Leave. It was said he’d been wrestling with the decision for some time. Yes, it’s tough when a berth in Number 10 could be the prize for going against long-established and well known views. Indeed, as recently as two weeks ago today, Johnson was writing:

the single market is of considerable value to many UK companies and consumers, and that leaving would cause at least some business uncertainty, while embroiling the Government for several years in a fiddly process of negotiating new arrangements, so diverting energy from the real problems of this country – low skills, low social mobility, low investment etc – that have nothing to do with Europe.”

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On Dave’s EU membership “deal”

Juncker & Cameron with EU flagHistory remembers the last time a Tory prime minister went to Europe and came back waving a piece of paper, but the hungry beast to be appeased now is a coterie of backbench MP’s, a hapless and hopeless crew blinded by stupidity and consumed by petty-minded hobby horses.

Yes, it’s the obligatory EU-renegotiation blog post, seeing as Dave has unveiled a draft deal looking to be the climax of his 2015-16 European tour. And, as absolutely nobody foresaw, the thin gruel he’s come home with is getting talked up as an overgenerous banquet. So the headline grabbers are the minor changes for in-work social security for EU workers, a reduction in the level of child benefit, an exemption of the UK from ever-closer political integration (which no one was forcing on us anyway), and a recognition that Parliaments can club together to change EU rules. The way Dave and his cheerleaders carry on, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the whole show isn’t already run by the Council of Ministers, but I digress. Continue reading →

Is Labour’s EU campaign a one-man band?

reddish Euro flagThe left and the right are politically conflicted on the question of the EU membership. I write as a somewhat reluctant supporter of EU membership. My problem, which I know is shared by many others, is that (1) I have very strong objections to the EU as presently constituted but (2) I nevertheless see many reasons why a European transnational entity, up to and including degrees of federalism, is necessary. Federalism has become something of a boo-word in English (as opposed to British) politics but of course any organisation of nation states that plans to get anything done must be federal to some extent and that even includes organising a free market across national borders. The bluster against federalism is largely phoney.

Remembering Labour’s disastrous participation in the Scottish Better Together campaign, I turned to the website of the Labour In For Britain campaign to see if it was doing any better. What I found was shockingly inadequate. Continue reading →

The EU referendum and the pro-EU left

reddish Euro flagThe GMB resolution at the Labour Party conference stressed defending employment and social rights and not aligning with the Tories, and was a welcome starting point for what should now be a major issue for Labour’s left, namely determining that Labour’s campaign is distinctively left wing and not indistinguishable from the general In campaign.

The Labour No campaign (Labour for Britain) got off to an unfortunate start when it was discovered that it was using the same website as Business for Britain, a right wing campaign. How it will develop remains to be seen, but it is I think reasonable to assume that many of the anti EU but pro-Corbyn left will not choose to be active campaigners on the grounds of not wanting to demonstrate division on an issue where the party is, formally, united. The NO2EU campaign always supported by Bob Crow will presumably once again provide a focus for the anti EU left. Continue reading →

EU membership means no renationalisation

A Fractured EuropePublic ownership of gas and electricity is destined to become a cherished aim of the Labour Party. For years under privatisation, the swindling of the consumer has gone hand-in-hand with outrageous profit-taking by the corporate giants, to the loss of the public purse. Far from helping customers through keen competition, the main effect of energy privatisation has been – like austerity – a redistribution of wealth from the have-nots to the well-to-do.

What a pity, therefore, that Labour cannot renationalise it! Britain is a member of the European Union (EU)  and as such bound by the EU Treaties. Indeed, every British court is duty-bound to enforce every EU law in preference to any conflicting British statute. Under Article 106, the EU prohibits public monopolies exercising exclusive rights where this violates EU competition rules. The EU’s Court of Justice has interpreted Article 106 as giving private companies the right to argue before the national courts that services should continue to be open to private-sector competition. Nationalised services are prima facie suspect and must be analysed by the judiciary for their “necessity”. Thus the EU has given companies a legal right to run to court to scupper programmes of public ownership. Continue reading →