Country fi rst, party second and career last SEnine


ISSUE NUMBER 60 From My Desk


While billions of pounds poor out of the UK annually into the EU to do God knows what, and more recently to prop up the EU's failing Euro, we would be silly not to question the value of our membership to


this strange club, or at least re-examine the terms of our annual membership fee.


Although I seem to remember being promised a vote on the EU, the government is holding fast that they do not want a referendum to be held on UK membership .


Tension in the Conservative party and the coalition is running high.


A motion by Tory MP David Nuttall has called for a referendum on EU membership with three choices: to stay in the EU, to leave the EU or to renegotiate our terms of membership of the EU. This comes on the back of a 100,000 signature petition calling for a referendum handed into Downing Street last month.


If such a motion were to succeed it could prove politically tricky for the Conservative leadership.


The matter is seen as so damaging that the government have moved the date of the debate so that the PM can be there for it prior to leaving to attend the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting in Australia.


It does seem strange that the people elected to represent you and me are not


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allowed to carry out that task. It is believed that any Conservative MP in a government job would be required to follow the party line and vote against the motion or to resign their posts.


When Tory Backbencher Mark Pritchard made the statement "This is about country fi rst, party second and career last" recently, he opened the question even wider. Are our elected representatives so enmeshed in the idea of a United States of Europe (USE) that we the citizens of this great country are mere grist to the mill and of little concern?


In 2007 when in opposition, Cameron made a 'cast iron' guarantee that there would be a referendum on the Lisbon treaty. In 2009, after the Czech Republic signed and the Lisbon treaty became law Cameron understandably mellowed to a plywood policy of a referendum if more power were to be given to Brussels.


There is no doubt that the time for a referendum on the Lisbon treaty has long passed, our fate sealed by the Czech republic signing.


However a referendum, worded correctly, would give a clear mandate for the Tory and future governments, and perhaps provide a negotiating position to take to the EU. Let's be realistic, the UK is too much of a cash cow for the other EU members to refuse to re-negotiate the terms of our membership.


These negotiations should include the return of control over our criminal justice, asylum and immigration policies


and a


robust opt-out of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. After the Lisbon treaty came into force in 2009 the majority of innovations proposed in the original EU Constitution were carried over to the Lisbon Treaty. Some of the most signifi cant


included:


◊ Centralised EU power ◊ Granted the EU a legal personality ◊ Created a new President and single Foreign Policy post


◊ New powers for the European Parliament


◊ Extended European Court of Justice powers into Home Aff airs


◊ Made the Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR) legally binding ◊ New powers to harmonise national legal systems


The more I researched into the subject of the powers of the EU the more I became concerned. Not because we are members of the EU as such, but because of the structure that has evolved has a dramatic eff ect on my life. I no longer have the power of election over the people who make the real decisions, those people who rule and govern me are parliament appointed or elected EU offi cials and no one I have elected


'The EU is on the brink of becoming a European Federation. I feel sure that Britain will fall in line.' - Joschka Fischer, German Foreign Minister 1998-2005


I wonder if we want to fall in line. We have a proud history of freedom and independence. One cannot help wonder if the EU will become the US of E and the sovereignty and independence of the UK become a thing of the past.


NOVEMBER 2011


Enjoy life: Enjoy Eltham.


Cover: Bald Eagle at the Bird of Prey Experience Environmental Curriculum Service (ECS), Bexley Road


Photo by Mark Wall


Cameo: Jos protects Elery while Amy Keys of Fairoak Drive Eltham pats a Corn Snake at the ECS


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