A No Vote is a Vote for Repatriation of Power

As one campaign closes, another opens. The general election has determined Parliament's composition; but we must now address ourselves to the larger question of Parliament's powers. Are we to be an independent country living under our own laws, or part of a larger European polity? As Edward Heath put it more than 30 years ago: who governs Britain?

Some readers may feel that we - and the campaign against the European constitution, which was launched yesterday - are being too alarmist. After all, the EU has trundled along for decades now without extirpating the nation state. Successive treaties have enlarged the powers of Brussels, but the United Kingdom is still here. Will this latest initiative be any different?

Yes. The constitution is not simply the latest in a series of treaties: it alters the legal basis of the EU. On the day it enters into force, all existing treaties will be dissolved. The EU will cease to be an association of states, deriving its authority from its constituent members, and instead draw its legitimacy directly from its own founding charter. It will acquire almost every attribute recognised by international law as a feature of statehood: legal personality, treaty-making powers, a head of state, external frontiers, accredited diplomats.

Anyone who thinks that we exaggerate should read the text (available online at www.euabc.com). You need only look at the first dozen or so clauses to get a sense of what the constitution is about: "The Constitution shall have primacy over the law of the Member States" (Article I-6); "The Member States shall exercise their competence to the extent that the Union has not exercised, or has decided to cease exercising, its competence" (Article I-12). Then comes the list of areas where Brussels is to have jurisdiction: transport, energy, agriculture, fisheries, trade competition, asylum, immigration, social policy, employment law, foreign affairs, defence, space exploration, justice and home affairs. No wonder Tony Blair spent the election blathering about schools and hospitals: they're pretty much all he'll have left.

This point is not made flippantly. European integration was a malign if unremarked presence throughout the recent campaign. There it sat like Banquo's ghost, invisible to most voters, but shaking its gory locks at the party leaders, who knew that they had to draw up their manifestos within the parameters allowed by EU law. There was a spectacular illustration of this when Michael Howard pledged that a future Conservative government would set an upper limit for immigrants and a separate quota for refugees, only to be told that such a policy was not compatible with the EU's "Area of Freedom, Security and Justice" (1984-style nomenclature is very much a feature of Brussels life).

Equally, no party could promise to revive our countryside (because of the CAP), rescue our fishing communities (because of the CFP) or deregulate our labour markets (because of the social chapter). No party could take up this newspaper's proposal to replace VAT with a local sales tax.

Ah yes, say the supporters of the constitution, but these are not new grievances: they mainly derive from past treaties. Perhaps so. But the fact that the constitution entrenches a number of things that we already disliked is hardly an argument for voting "yes". When Mr Blair says that this is a referendum on the wider question of Britain's relationship with Brussels, he is right. Since this is the first time that we have been asked our opinion in 30 years, it is only natural that we should wish to express a view on the various transfers of power to the EU that have happened over that period. But having thus defined the contest, Mr Blair must accept the logic of his own position. A "no" vote would not simply be a vote for the status quo: it would be a vote for the wholesale repatriation of power from Brussels and the restoration of parliamentary sovereignty. If he cannot bring himself to accept this, Mr Blair will surely have to make way for someone who can.
Editorial, Daily Telegraph, 19th May 2005

Further Resources
Ten Minutes to Midnight by Phillip Day
Vigilance by Ashley Mote
The Real Face of the European Union, a PAL documentary video

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