The Tory MP for Wellingborough Peter Bone has been asking in Parliament about Multi Purpose Driving Test Centres. He says: "The Minister has rightly confirmed that the Government are planning to spend £71 million because of a European Union directive. However, if the Government had applied for a derogation from the directive so that 50 kph was translated to 30 mph, no expenditure would have been necessary. Why did the Government waste £71 million rather than apply for a derogation?"
He gets a sort of non denial denial from the Minister Jim Fitzpatrick ("We do not see it as wasting £71 million...") Part of the game is that the Government always has to pretend that by sheer coincidence they are delighted to do whatever the EU happens to impose on them.
I don't expect Bone's protest will make much impact. What's £71 million? What's new about the EU telling the Government what to do and the Government just giving in straight away? But this example shows that rebuking Eurosceptics for "banging on about Europe" instead of other subjects misses the point. A more robust approach to the EU impacts of so many issues - not least the prospects of reducing wasteful public spending to allow for tax cuts.