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		What the Lib-Dems really think of public opinion Lincolnshire Echo - February 23 2004 Lib-Dem MEP Nick Clegg writes a regular column in the Guardian On-Line, and he devoted most of a recent piece to me. Thanks, Nick. He revealed (shock, horror!) that I had been seen reading The Daily Telegraph! And in the EU parliament! Worst of all, while I should have been listening to a speech by Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the UN! I think it was former US President Lyndon Johnson of whom they said that he couldn't walk and chew gum. Clearly Nick can't scan the headlines while following the thread of a speech. That's a pity. I find it an invaluable asset for a politician. Most of Kofi Annan's speech involved telling the EU what it ought to do about immigration policy. I thought it was just a little bit presumptuous for Annan to lecture the EU on immigration, but he'd been invited by the parliament to speak, so I suppose he was entitled to say what he thought. Meantime, Nick's article went on in full attack-mode. He ran through all the tired old clichés of the euro-luvvies. Swivel-eyed euro-sceptic, europhobe, anti-European, anti-immigrant. This last is not only untrue but also defamatory, and I suspect I could sue if I had nothing better to do. I'm horrified by Nick's slip-shod use of English. If you meet someone who spends his weekends pot-holing, you can bet he's not claustrophobic. If you meet a lady who works in the Insect-House at the zoo, you can bet she doesn't have a spider-phobia. And if you meet someone who spends four days a week in the European parliament, talks about Europe for the other three days, and is standing for re-election for a second five-year term, you can be sure he's not a Euro-phobe (if indeed anyone is!). Nor am I anti-European. Indeed I love Europe -- the culture, the cooking, the countryside. I have many good friends among like-minded MEPs from other EU countries. I am constantly invited to speak all over Europe, from Portugal to Prague to Estonia. Sadly because of time pressures I can only accept a few of the invitations. What Nick means, of course is that I am anti-the-EU as a political project. To that, I plead guilty. I have often argued in this column that the EU, as a model of governance, is undermining our democracy and our prosperity -- and that of other member-states. And I am not anti-immigrant. I have no principled objection to immigration. I believe that legal immigrants to this country should be treated equally and fairly. And I believe that Britain, like the USA and Australia, should have a firm but fair immigration policy, that takes account of the needs of our labour market, the size of our crowded island and the pressures on our overstretched housing and social services. And I believe that we should take robust measures to remove those who come illegally, outside the terms of our immigration policy. The interesting thing is, that as I talk to people across Lincolnshire, I find that overwhelmingly they agree with me on Europe and on immigration. Like me, they are all in favour of free trade and co-operation with our European neighbours -- this is what we thought we were voting for in the 1975 referendum. But they want to live in an independent, democratic Britain governed by our own elected institutions, and not to be governed by remote, bureaucratic, unaccountable and fraudulent supra-national institutions in Brussels. Like me, they want a firm but fair immigration policy, with robust action against illegal immigrants. Indeed they are angry that politicians don't seem to take these issues seriously. As you read this article, it may be that you too agree with these views on Europe, and on immigration. If so, you may be shocked to learn that the Lib-Dems dismiss your views as Euro-phobic and anti-immigrant. You may want to keep that in mind as we approach the euro-elections in June.