Following on from my blog piece yesterday on Bob Spink’s defection to UKIP, I want to offer a defence: I said nothing about Bob Spink’s individual views, I did not quote him but I simply speculated with a degree of inevitability that this kind of problem resulted from a Tory European policy which needs to be reformed. My words: “I hope it isn’t the shape of things to come.”
My position is entirely clear. I work at The European Foundation, where the working principle is “Yes to European trade; No to European government”.
The objective is to reform the EU into a European free trade area – that is, a Europe consisting of free-trading associated sovereign states. That pits me directly against the ideas of a federal Europe.
I fully endorse the Conservative view that we need to safeguard the supremacy of Parliament, a UK Parliament acting as a voice for the people, which was the centre point or framework for my blog pieces/comments yesterday.
I also edit the European Journal at the Foundation, which may interest you – and if you would like a copy, do get in contact with me.
