Last week I set out the content of the Queen’s Speech – the changes that the Government plans to make over the next 12 months. Yet it is important to qualify this. The Speech represents the ideas that the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have agreed upon. Each Party has its desires that did not make it onto the Government programme because the other Party refused.
The most important commitment for the Conservative Party, blocked from being Government policy in this way, is a referendum on our membership of Europe. In Parliament on Wednesday I voted with 115 Conservative colleagues to demand legislation before 2015 to secure that referendum. This was a move the Prime Minister supported and something that the Conservatives hope to push through Parliament, despite opposition from Labour and the Liberals.
I am a proud Eurosceptic, and I will support attempts by my Party to get the commitment to a referendum in 2017 into law as soon as possible. There is a temptation to demand a referendum tomorrow, and I have great sympathy with that view, but ultimately I think 2017 is the right decision. Let me explain why.
If you are unhappy about something in life, you try and fix it. You make the best of the situation before you decide to, say, change your child’s school or quit your job. Europe is the same. In its current form, it is unacceptable, but we are right to go back to the table and talk. We are right to highlight the parts the work in the UK’s interest and the parts that don’t and try to change it for the better.
It is up to Brussels to make concessions to satisfy the British public, to make the argument against withdrawal. It is in Europe’s hands.
Once we have got the best deal we can, if that still isn’t good enough, then we should not be scared to walk away. Trade is beneficial to both sides so we are unlikely to lose free trade. We will always work with Europe on issues like the environment and terrorism as we do with the US, but we will have control of our borders, welfare and regulation. We will once again be governed solely by our sovereign Parliament.
Ultimately, it is the people, not the politicians who should make the final judgement as to what is right for the UK. I trust the people of Swindon to make this informed decision which is why I am so supportive of a referendum. But I also think we should have time to think, reflect and debate before we make a decision. We shouldn’t be scared to withdraw, but we must be sure it is right.
