With the UK economy flatlining and confidence fragile, could there be a worse moment to talk about leaving Europe?
You can tell David Cameron is getting desperate when he claims that the same people who kept Britain out of the euro now want to join the single currency![ext]()
– as he absurdly claimed about Labour at PMQs.
In his first year as Conservative leader Cameron said his party needed to stop "banging on" about Europe but he is now destined to spend the rest of his time in office defined by it.
You would think that with the economy stagnant, businesses going under and long-term unemployment rising, the big new year speech from the prime minister would be on how to kickstart the economy.
But instead he has spent months and months distracted by trying to write a speech about Europe. And Cameron's political weakness in the face of his restless backbenchers – who increasingly want immediate exit from the EU and not simply a referendum – now risks years of economic uncertainty for Britain.
It's no wonder that businesses are increasingly worried. For many foreign investors one of Britain's attractions is as a gateway to a market of 500 million people.
When I spoke at the CBI president's committee dinner a few months ago, a number of senior business leaders across our manufacturing, service and financial sectors told me, in no uncertain terms, that being able to sell from Britain into the EU single market is a vital driver of their future investment decisions.
And yet our chancellor is now openly discussing leaving that club. With our economy flatlining and confidence fragile could there be a worse moment to be doing this?
At a time when securing jobs and growth must be the priority in Europe and when the future shape of the eurozone remains so uncertain, announcing now a referendum that will raise fears that Britain could leave the EU cannot be in our national interest.
But as Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, will say in an important speech![ext]()
at Chatham House tonight, those of us who believe that Britain's future remains firmly in the EU must address public concerns and continue to push for change. Alexander's lecture will call for reform in Europe, not exit from Europe. That is the right approach for Britain.
This is just the kind of "hard-headed pro Europeanism" that I advocated in a pamphlet for the Centre for European Reform in 2007![ext]()
: that while recognising we can better tackle shared challenges like globalisation, climate change and cross-border crime by co-operating, we must also argue our case where we need change and where we believe Europe risks taking the wrong course.
That hard-headed approach is why the last Labour government decided it was not in Britain's national interest to join the euro. And it is why Labour is making the case now for a change in strategy in Europe to prioritising jobs and growth![ext]()
rather than self-defeating austerity, alongside completion of the single market and reform of the EU budget![ext]()
– all issues I will be discussing with the French finance minister, Pierre Moscovici, when I meet him at the Trésor in Paris today.
There are areas beyond the economy where change is needed too. We need institutional reform including, as Alexander will say tonight, to ensure that national parliaments have more of a say over the making of new EU legislation.
And as we recognise that Labour should have implemented the full transitional arrangements during the last round of EU enlargement, we believe the EU should look at ways of giving member states more flexibility over the transitional arrangements that they sign up to.
As Ed Miliband![ext]()
said on the Today programme, people don't feel that the European Union is working well for Britain at the moment and that means we need to deliver change – not a strategy that risks taking us to the edge of an economic cliff.
Our task is to deliver real reform in Europe and expose the dangers of exit from Europe, which would put millions of jobs at risk. Cameron should be building alliances to secure the former, but his gamble this week risks sleepwalking us to the latter. Reported by guardian.co.uk 23 hours ago.
You can tell David Cameron is getting desperate when he claims that the same people who kept Britain out of the euro now want to join the single currency
– as he absurdly claimed about Labour at PMQs.In his first year as Conservative leader Cameron said his party needed to stop "banging on" about Europe but he is now destined to spend the rest of his time in office defined by it.
You would think that with the economy stagnant, businesses going under and long-term unemployment rising, the big new year speech from the prime minister would be on how to kickstart the economy.
But instead he has spent months and months distracted by trying to write a speech about Europe. And Cameron's political weakness in the face of his restless backbenchers – who increasingly want immediate exit from the EU and not simply a referendum – now risks years of economic uncertainty for Britain.
It's no wonder that businesses are increasingly worried. For many foreign investors one of Britain's attractions is as a gateway to a market of 500 million people.
When I spoke at the CBI president's committee dinner a few months ago, a number of senior business leaders across our manufacturing, service and financial sectors told me, in no uncertain terms, that being able to sell from Britain into the EU single market is a vital driver of their future investment decisions.
And yet our chancellor is now openly discussing leaving that club. With our economy flatlining and confidence fragile could there be a worse moment to be doing this?
At a time when securing jobs and growth must be the priority in Europe and when the future shape of the eurozone remains so uncertain, announcing now a referendum that will raise fears that Britain could leave the EU cannot be in our national interest.
But as Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, will say in an important speech
at Chatham House tonight, those of us who believe that Britain's future remains firmly in the EU must address public concerns and continue to push for change. Alexander's lecture will call for reform in Europe, not exit from Europe. That is the right approach for Britain.This is just the kind of "hard-headed pro Europeanism" that I advocated in a pamphlet for the Centre for European Reform in 2007
: that while recognising we can better tackle shared challenges like globalisation, climate change and cross-border crime by co-operating, we must also argue our case where we need change and where we believe Europe risks taking the wrong course.That hard-headed approach is why the last Labour government decided it was not in Britain's national interest to join the euro. And it is why Labour is making the case now for a change in strategy in Europe to prioritising jobs and growth
rather than self-defeating austerity, alongside completion of the single market and reform of the EU budget– all issues I will be discussing with the French finance minister, Pierre Moscovici, when I meet him at the Trésor in Paris today.There are areas beyond the economy where change is needed too. We need institutional reform including, as Alexander will say tonight, to ensure that national parliaments have more of a say over the making of new EU legislation.
And as we recognise that Labour should have implemented the full transitional arrangements during the last round of EU enlargement, we believe the EU should look at ways of giving member states more flexibility over the transitional arrangements that they sign up to.
As Ed Miliband
said on the Today programme, people don't feel that the European Union is working well for Britain at the moment and that means we need to deliver change – not a strategy that risks taking us to the edge of an economic cliff.Our task is to deliver real reform in Europe and expose the dangers of exit from Europe, which would put millions of jobs at risk. Cameron should be building alliances to secure the former, but his gamble this week risks sleepwalking us to the latter. Reported by guardian.co.uk 23 hours ago.