Ashley Fox: Where now for Britain’s relationship with Europe?

Ashley Fox is Member of the European Parliament for the South West of England and Gibraltar

Like so many of my constituents, I am unhappy with Britain’s current relationship with the European Union. I firmly believe it has to change. I am delighted that the Prime Minister now wants to renegotiate our membership of the EU and put that deal to the British people in an in/out referendum.

The EU costs Britain too much money and it does not spend the money it has wisely. Brussels has too much power and meddles too much in our daily lives.

I want Britain to be part of a free-trading Europe of sovereign nations, like the EEC we joined in 1973. If the Conservative Party is re-elected in 2015, David Cameron has promised a referendum by the end of 2017, following a period of renegotiation on our terms of membership. I think that it is now time for us to discuss what powers should be brought back to Britain as part of these negotiations.

In my view this should include:

• Regaining control of Employment and Social Legislation – This would include the permanent opt-out of legislation such as the European Working Time Directive. If we want real economic growth then businesses need to be cut free from the red tape and regulation that is so often dreamt up in the corridors of Brussels and then gold plated by our own civil servants.

Ashley Fox MEP: Please help me to end the Strasbourg Circus

Ashley Fox is Member of the European Parliament for the South West of England and Gibraltar

The two-seat arrangement of the European Parliament, based in both Brussels and Strasbourg, is a complete farce. Where else in the world would you see a Parliament re-locate to identical facilities 250 miles away for 48 days a year and leave the same huge building complex empty for the remaining 317 days?

And its all to satisfy the French! When Strasbourg was chosen as the official seat of Parliament it was a symbol of Franco-German reconciliation. 50 years later it is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the EU.

According to the EU Treaties, Strasbourg is the official seat of the European Parliament. The Parliament must meet there 12 times a year for Plenary sessions, where legislation receives its final vote. For the rest of the year, the Parliament meets in Brussels, where Committee and Political Group meetings take place, where MEPs have their offices, and where most staff live. It is also where the other main EU Institutions are, namely the Commission and Council, therefore allowing for greater scrutiny and oversight of the EU executive.

Ashley Fox: UKIP will be muzzled by a commitment to renegotiation

Ashley Fox, a Conservative candidate in the South West European Elections, looks at the challenge UKIP poses in the region.

In the South West our main opponents at the European elections in June 2009 will be UKIP.

In 1999 the Conservatives had a good result in the South West, taking 41.7% of the vote and 4 of the 7 MEPs. This fell to 31.6% in 2004, when we elected only 3 MEPs. Over the same period, UKIP's vote rose 12%, from 10.6% in 1999 to 22.6% in 2004.

For a detailed analysis of the figures you can visit Wikipedia. However, you don't have to be a genius to work out that most of UKIP's gains came at our expense.

In 2009 the South West will elect only 6 MEPs, so were we to repeat our poor 2004 performance we would end up with only 2 MEPs. UKIP would also take 2, with Labour and the LibDems having 1 each.