Anthony Browne: Time for European localism

Anthony Browne is former Brussels correspondent of the Times.

There is probably no other issue that splits the coalition as much as Europe: one side is Eurosceptic, the other is driven by an EU passion.  The strategy until now has been to ignore the issue, but that is no longer tenable when the fight comes to the UK.  The euro crisis means it is inevitable that the European treaties will be renegotiated, which needs the UK’s approval, and it would not just be a lost opportunity, but historically unprecedented, not to put our own demands on the table: suggestions include bringing back powers over working hours and health and safety. The prime minister caused excitement in the 1922 committee by telling them that he was “sharpening his pencil”, but then he tempered it by saying anything would have to be agreed with the Liberal Democrats.
 
There is however a contradiction in the overall Liberal Democrat position, and it could provide a way to break the impasse. The key is to push what I will call “European localism”. The debate should not be about being for or against the EU; but which powers are held at what level. For any given issue, there is a practical and democratically optimal level where control should reside. At one extreme, our space programme clearly operates best at a European level; I would suggest that control over working hours should rest at a national level; control over business rates should be at local authority level. For a whole range of well-rehearsed reasons, the default should be that control should reside at as low a level as practically possible - devolve where possible and only centralise where necessary.

Anthony Browne: Why we shouldn't leave the EU

Anthony Browne is a former Brussels correspondent for The Times.

The Tory blood is up, spoiling for a fight: we should pull out of the EU. A perfect storm is brewing across the continent - the euro is in crisis (I’m not holding my breath for apologies from the pro-euro brigade), talk of imminent fiscal union, new Brussels budget demands at a time of austerity at home, rising anti-European sentiment across the many member states, with parties such as the True Finns coming to power – and a new British Conservative-led government increasingly frustrated at how Brussels ties its hands. Enough, surely, is enough.

There are reports of several cabinet members wanting to pull out of the EU, along with many of the new Tory MPs. Public opinion, which has generally been supportive of remaining in the EU, is shifting rapidly – the opinion poll reported on ConservativeHome on Tuesday suggested voters would vote 2 to 1 to leave the EU in a referendum. It is no surprise that the shrewdest of our political commentators, Matthew Parris, wrote recently (£) that the plate tectonics are shifting, and leaving the EU could become a reality.

So let’s get real. The arguments for and against leaving the EU are finely balanced, but there is an overwhelming reason why Conservatives should not want the government to try to leave: it would derail everything else the government wants to do. I voted for this government because I wanted to reform healthcare, education and welfare, so we get the public services we deserve, to bring down taxes and to stop the inexorable growth of red tape and bureaucracy.  I didn’t vote for it because I wanted to pull out of the EU.

Anthony Browne: Ten lessons for the new Government from London about being in power

Anthony Browne is Boris Johnson's Policy Director for Economic Development, having previously been a journalist (working latterly as The Times' Chief Political Correspondent) and Director of Policy Exchange. 

When Boris asked me to work for him, we mused on our mutual past as journalists. “You’re just writing about what others are doing” he said. “So much better to actually do things.” Indeed it is. It is a great privilege being a journalist, but as one hack put it, it is like being the eunuch in a harem – always speculating about it, but never doing it.

Now, after nearly two decades of scribbling about others, I have for the past year and a half experienced that unusual feeling for a Conservative - actually being in power.  One shadow cabinet minister welcomed me working for Boris because the party was very short of people who had any track record of being in power.  Before the election, another shadow cabinet minister told me “It’s so strange hearing a Conservative talk about ‘my officials’ - and so uplifting.”

Now, many of the new Conservative and Liberal Democrat ministers will be as unaccustomed to power as I was. Over lunches, dinners and coffees, many asked me  “what’s it actually like?”, quickly followed by “what have you learnt?”

Obviously, with just 18 months under my belt, and at a regional rather than national level, I have much less experience than even the smaller beasts roaming the Palace of Westminster. It has been a steep learning curve. The most sobering lesson is how difficult it is to actually make things happen.  A journalist – or any bar room pundit – just pronounces that the world should be so, and thinks it is enough to make it happen. If you are in power, having the ideas is the easy bit.  Actually turning them into reality in a sustainable, cost-effective way without unintended consequences is incomparably harder.