Timothy Kirkhope: The dangers of turning our backs on Europe

DAVID Cameron gave a clear promise in January to hold a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU. All the major parties have promised referenda in the past but only the Conservatives have given a clear lead and a time for such an event.

The next Conservative manifesto in 2015 will ask for a mandate for the incoming Conservative government to negotiate a new settlement with our European partners in the next Parliament. Once the terms are negotiated the referendum will be held by 2017.

While the exact question has yet to be formulated, the Prime Minister referred to it as ultimately a simple “in/out” choice. And he is the first Prime Minister to do this since Harold Wilson went to the British people in 1975, asking them whether they supported the country’s continued membership of the European Economic Community (EEC), as it was then known.

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At that time there was a high turnout and it resulted in 67 per cent voting in favour. Now James Wharton MP, through his Private Members’ Bill, currently being debated in the House of Commons will enshrine David Cameron’s promise in law to bind an incoming government.

This legislation is being supported strongly by the Prime Minister and the Conservative members of the cabinet. This would give time not only for the negotiations to be concluded but also for the British people to consider all the arguments and the pluses and minuses of membership before they vote, and hence, the timetable suggested by the Prime Minister is both wise and pragmatic.

Ongoing attempts by some backbenchers like Adam Afriyie MP to wreck James Wharton’s bill by applying a much earlier date for a referendum, before the general election and before these necessary steps of renegotiation and debate have taken place, are both misplaced and mischievous, and must be resisted.

Throughout, David Cameron has taken a strong lead on this issue which will become of increasing importance in the minds of the British people.

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The European Union is sometimes seen as wasteful and inflexible. It faces the twin problems of sluggish economies and the responsibilities flowing from those countries which are part of the single currency. It has also, in the eyes of some, failed so far to bring about the full economic benefits for which it was originally and chiefly designed and also to be doing its work so with ever-decreasing democratic legitimacy.

Given the scale of those problems, and in the context of a complicated and changing world scenario, the Prime Minister is committed to reforming the relationship that our country has with the EU.

In doing this he has set out one simple guiding principle: our membership must clearly benefit our country as well as our partners, and if it is continue must be of wider benefit in Europe and outside of it too.

On balance, I believe that it is important that we do remain, because the European Union is actually crucial to the UK’s prosperity and growth. Every year it becomes an ever more important world trading bloc. The EU accounts for over half our UK exports and just under half of the inward investment in our country.

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We should try not to turn our backs on it because any alternative could result in isolation and decline. And all of us owe it to our population, and especially our younger generation, to leave them prosperous and connected and not without friends or influence in the world.

One thing notable by its absence is a well thought-through “Plan B” for the “Morning After” we leave the EU.

Progress is of course slow in Europe and there are many problems, but we are fixing them one by one. We have taken vigorous steps to reform the banks. We started to reform our agricultural and fishing policies to stop waste and help small producers.

We are doing much more to help consumers and businesses shake off the economic downturn and bringing in further reform in the areas of regional policy, justice, employment and the European institutions themselves are being pushed to reform much more by the Prime Minister ahead of the referendum.

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Even in the eyes of unthinking europhiles, Europe will itself never solve all our problems. In fact, as we as pragmatists know, it currently tries to do far too much. That is something we are determined to rectify and negotiated changes will help with that process.

*Timothy Kirkhope is a Conservative MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber.