Mills and Hoon
Guido complains that Brains has "twisted" "his" (Guido's) story on Bill Cash's amendment that would reinstate British primacy over EU regulation into a full blown article in today's Guardian. Guido conveniently overlooks the fact that Miliband and Hoon (who co-wrote the piece) are, in fact, Cabinet Ministers, and were probably able to deduce the full implications of Cash's amendment without his help.
Also overlooked is this stinging criticism of Cameron's EU policy:
Indeed. If Cameron's Conservatives find themselves in power following the next election—which is sadly looking increasingly likely—they would also find themselves practically ostracised in Europe should they pull out of the EPP and/or try to assert the sovereignty of Britain's legislators over the EU's. This is what Mills and Hoon are getting at when they say that Cash's amendment "means withdrawal".
Also overlooked is this stinging criticism of Cameron's EU policy:
By negotiating as one block, the EU is a powerful force for change - without it, the Kyoto protocol would not have survived. The EU's emission-trading scheme is the most innovative and efficient method yet invented for reducing carbon emissions to manageable levels. Its emerging partnerships with India and China are helping to spread clean energy to the developing world. European nations could never have taken these steps by themselves. [...]
By pulling out of the mainstream Conservative group in the European Parliament, Mr Cameron is putting his party's obsessive anti-Europeanism before Britain's national interest, and before effective action on the environment.
Indeed. If Cameron's Conservatives find themselves in power following the next election—which is sadly looking increasingly likely—they would also find themselves practically ostracised in Europe should they pull out of the EPP and/or try to assert the sovereignty of Britain's legislators over the EU's. This is what Mills and Hoon are getting at when they say that Cash's amendment "means withdrawal".
2 Comments:
Hoon didn't write it and probably hasn't read it, he gets a courtesy byline because it is his area.
This was completely ignored for a month until I started banging on about it.
Miliband reads the blog or do you think he got the idea by reading the various minutae of amendments to the bill before bedtime?
The only reason anyone picked up on it was because I picked up on a seemingly bonkers comment by Cash, which appears to be true.
On the other hand maybe Milibland does read Hansard before bedtime.
Fair comment - I'll concede that reading your blog probably did focus Brains's mind/pen on the issue.
However, I would still emphasise the point that if Cash's amendment passed, it would leave the UK in a position—at least as perceived by other EU states—tantamount to withdrawal, thus severely diminshing our negotiating power.
Portillo had a point when he quoted Machavelli to support Cameron dropping the withdrawal from EPP promise:
"A prudent leader will not and should not observe his promises, when such observance will work against him and when the reasons for making the promise are no longer valid."
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