Following my post yesterday in which I stated that the europhiles would waste no time in jumping on the bandwagon warning us of catastrophic consquences about failure of the eurozone, Douglas Alexander has wasted no time in climbing aboard with his article in today's Guardian. He writes that Labour's task should be to tell a new story about Britain and Europe, rooted in the need for reform revealed by new economic and political realities and that cutting ourselves off from a market of 500 million customers wouldn't just imply we had lost faith in Europe, it would suggest we had lost faith in the ability of British companies to outcompete their European rivals. That last sentence is pure hogwash because we would not be cutting ourselves off from any markets in Europe and to imply that leaving the EU would suggest we did not believe British companies could compete with those in Europe is not only hogwash, it is pure balderdash.
Paul Waugh, writing on Politics Home, implies that Alexander is signalling a shift in Labour's attitude to the European Union and links to another article in the Guardian by Patrick Wintour. That both articles in the Guardian don't tell us anything about what Alexander, or Labour, really want other than stating they would not join the euro and hinting about repatriation of powers or a re-balancing of powers (whatever that may mean) leaves me wondering whether all this is just another political 'empty' gesture in order to garner anti-EU votes.
It speaks volumes that Alexander follows the political belief that only they, the politicians, have the knowledge and right to decide this country's future which raises the eternal question who gave them such dictatorial power? That politicians can make unfounded assertions, ones that are not backed up by proof - in effect plucking statistics out of the air - and do so without engaging in debate where by those statements could be challenged shows the paucity of their argument for continued membership of the EU. It behoves each and every member of the electorate to demand politicians provide proof of their statements and one sure way of getting that would be for a petition to be posted on the Coalition's website demanding an independent cost/benefit analysis of EU membership.
4 comments:
He makes it sound as if the whole 500 million Europeans are personal customers of the UK and that there are no other companies or businesses in the whole of Europe.
As I understand it, at least 80% of our GDP is for internal consumption, leaving 20% for export. Of that, at most 50% is to the EU. So, if the worst came to the worst, we would have to look to the rest of the world to replace 10% of our GDP. Not too bad, I would say. However, we have a massive trade deficit with the EU, so if they start to get a bit bolshie, should we choose to extricate ourselves from their socialist grip, then I think they'd be the losers. My feeling is that, apart from my hero Margaret, we have never exerted the amount of pressure on the socialist entity, the EU, that we are capable of doing. Having said that, I just want us out. We aren't like the rest of Europe, which is why we were and could be again, better than they are or probably ever can be.
Douglas Alexander is a Scottish Solicitor with the voice and intellect to match.
Anon: Agreed!
jic: As I have posted previously, don't believe any trade stats - they are flawed!
TT: Agreed.....
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