Earlier this afternoon the Tory leader David Cameron gave a speech on his party's European policy - you can read the speech in full over at Iain Dale's blog. Andrew Sparrow at the Graun summarises it as follows:
First, [Cameron] will legislate to ensure that there has to be a referendum whenever powers are transferred to Europe. He says the "referendum lock" will cover not just those occasions when the EU signs a new treaty. It will cover any transfer of power. This will be a major constitutional change. But he won't have a "made-up referendum". (This is a direct reference to the David Davis article in today's Daily Mail.) If the Tories win an election, they will already have a mandate to renegotiate Britain's relationship with the EU.
Second, Cameron says he will introduce a new law, a UK Sovereignty Bill, to make sure that ultimate authority remains in Westminster. It won't be about striking down EU laws. It will just put the UK on a par with Germany, where legislation says the ultimate authority lies with the German parliament.
Third, Cameron says he will legislate to stop the use of the "ratchet" clauses in the Lisbon treaty that would allow the further transfer of powers without another EU treaty. The effect of these changes would be to ensure that a Lisbon situation would happen "never again".
[....] It's a very clever speech: gradualist Euroscepticism. He's proposing some radical (and possibly unrealistic) repatriation of EU powers, but giving himself five years to achieve it. And he's telling the Tory Eurosceptics, like Davis, that a referendum on Britain's relationship with the EU is an option - but not until the election after next. That might be one of the key news lines: Cameron is ruling out a referendum for the next four or five years.
I predict the next poll will show a small UKIP gain (+2/3) at the Tories' expense. We'll see.
First, [Cameron] will legislate to ensure that there has to be a referendum whenever powers are transferred to Europe. He says the "referendum lock" will cover not just those occasions when the EU signs a new treaty. It will cover any transfer of power. This will be a major constitutional change. But he won't have a "made-up referendum". (This is a direct reference to the David Davis article in today's Daily Mail.) If the Tories win an election, they will already have a mandate to renegotiate Britain's relationship with the EU.
Second, Cameron says he will introduce a new law, a UK Sovereignty Bill, to make sure that ultimate authority remains in Westminster. It won't be about striking down EU laws. It will just put the UK on a par with Germany, where legislation says the ultimate authority lies with the German parliament.
Third, Cameron says he will legislate to stop the use of the "ratchet" clauses in the Lisbon treaty that would allow the further transfer of powers without another EU treaty. The effect of these changes would be to ensure that a Lisbon situation would happen "never again".
[....] It's a very clever speech: gradualist Euroscepticism. He's proposing some radical (and possibly unrealistic) repatriation of EU powers, but giving himself five years to achieve it. And he's telling the Tory Eurosceptics, like Davis, that a referendum on Britain's relationship with the EU is an option - but not until the election after next. That might be one of the key news lines: Cameron is ruling out a referendum for the next four or five years.
I predict the next poll will show a small UKIP gain (+2/3) at the Tories' expense. We'll see.
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