CentreRight has, of course, all the best stories. But the two stories that really caught by eye this week related to the news that European Parliamentarians have been told to use gender-neutral language and a quite spectacular poll that was discussed on BBC2’s Daily Politics show on Wednesday. The nonsense over gender-neutral language can be easily dismissed and I’m just wondering how the speakers of most of Europe’s languages, bar English, are going to cope as these splendid tongues are steeped with gender affiliations in a way that English is not.
But the poll is something else. The results were really quite special. When the sample of people were asked if they thought Britain benefits overall from membership of the EU in terms of jobs and trade only 44% thought so whilst 51% did not. And when asked whether Britain should leave the EU but maintain close trading links 55% agreed whilst 41% did not. Closer inspection of the figures that every age group favoured leaving, as did people in every region and in every social class - bar the ABs where there was tiny preference for, one speculates, staying in the EU. (I say “speculates” because those who disagreed with the proposition may believe that Britain should leave the EU and not maintain close trading links!)
This was at first sight a staggering result – but perhaps it should not be so surprising after all. We, Global Vision, have conducted several polls asking people what sort of relationship they thought Britain should have with the EU. All our polling showed that the majority of people are unhappy with the current relationship. Roughly a half wanted a looser relationship with the EU based on trade and cooperation and a quarter wanted to leave altogether, whilst a quarter wished to maintain the status quo. Clearly when people are given the option of withdrawing from the political institutions of the EU whilst continuing to trade then this option is their favoured option.
Discussion about EU membership is all too often conducted in Manichean terms of light versus dark. Or discussed as a matter of black, in and take the lot, and white, leave and be cast into isolated, outer-darkness where monsters lurk. When given the sensible option of a friendly, positive trading relationship, people choose it.
But there’s more. In a recent YouGov poll for the Daily Telegraph people were asked what they would like the Conservatives to do if they won the next election. Their first choice was the control of immigration, which is an issue closely bound up with the EU. And their second choice was the reduction of the EU’s powers and increased powers for the British Parliament – this was well ahead of cutting taxes by the way. The notion that the EU doesn’t matter to people, despite the fact that the majority of our laws originate in Brussels and restrict British policy-makers at every turn, is simply wrong. People are interested in Britain’s relationship with the EU and they want a new, more modern relationship in tune with our globalised times. The EU might have been the right model post-war – even for Britain – but for the majority of British people it is not right for Britain now. It is past its sell-buy date.
A new book points to the grotesque expense of the EU for its citizens. According to estimates by David Craig and Matthew Elliott in their recent book “The great European rip-off”, the EU costs about £2,000 for every person in the EU – some £100bn for the UK alone. These costs are too great for the few benefits we receive. Even the UK’s contributions to the EU budget, a small part of the overall burden, are around £13bn a year – over a third of the defence budget and a very useful saving in straightened times.
It perhaps wouldn’t be so bad if the EU were responding well to the current, historic economic and financial crisis. But it is not – it looks divided and irrelevant at a time when the US, international institutions and even our own dear Labour Government are making the running. It simply beggars belief that at this time of economic crisis the EU seems intent on banning our voluntary opt-out from the 48-hour maximum working week. Fiddling while Rome burns comes to mind.
You could laugh at the EU’s nonsenses if they weren’t so damaging and expensive. But they are. Britain’s unhappy relationship with the EU will not go away. And neither should it.