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I have done a "U Turn"
Derby Evening Telegraph - Friday, 30th May 2008 Dear Sir, In his excellent recent DET article on the EU, Edward Spalton refers to my attitude to the EU, so perhaps I should clarify the point. I have to admit that over the last nine years, I have committed one of the worst offences that a politician can be accused of. I have changed my mind, or as they say in the tabloids, I have done a U-turn. I used to believe, as the Conservative Party believed, that the EU was capable of reform, and that our task was to stay in and reform it. Our job was to win the arguments in Brussels, and to create an EU in which Britain could be comfortable, and where our independence and self-government could be assured. On this basis, I was quite happy with our very successful 1999 campaign slogan "In Europe, not Run by Europe". But during my nine years in Brussels I have gradually come to realise that we may win the arguments in Brussels, but we will usually lose the votes. There is an in-built majority in favour of a centralised, harmonised European state. Trying to get the EU to change direction is like getting on a bus from Derby to Edinburgh, and trying to persuade the driver and passengers that they would really rather to go to London instead. But they don't want to go to London. You have to recognise sooner or later that you got on the wrong bus. The EU is costing us far more, in direct contributions and in regulatory costs, than any possible benefit we get out of it. The new Lisbon Treaty (the old EU Constitution in a new package) makes matters worse, and consolidates powers the EU. It is beyond reform, and deserves to be put out of its misery. That is why I have signed up to the Better Off Out campaign (www.betteroffout.co.uk), sponsored by the Freedom Association, an organisation of which I have the privilege to be Honorary Chairman. Yours faithfully Roger Helmer Conservative MEP for Derbyshire |