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| Prime Minister Cameron and Chancellor Merkel of the '4th Reich' |
After protracted talks (and even longer dinners) the negotiations with European Union member state leaders has adjourned and like Neville Chamberlain tried to convince the country with his ‘Peace in our time’ speech at Croydon Aerodrome in 1938, David Cameron will now attempt to sell to the electorate – and many members of his Cabinet – that he has secured ‘Reforms in our time’ in relation to Britain’s ongoing membership within the EU. If anything, the recent talks together with mass-media speculation has polarised the two camps, the Eurosceptic’s or the Brexit group and the Europhile ‘Remain’ band of largely liberals and lefties, but not exclusively so. As this article is being drafted, the date for the referendum has yet to be announced but we can be assured of a very interesting run-in to the recently announced date of the 23rd June 2016.
Unlike other member states, Britain has never had the
opportunity to vote for membership of a European Union. The referendum
in 1973 was for what became known as the Common Market which inter-alia, in one
fell swoop cost us control of our agricultural and fisheries industries and it
is noteworthy that Cameron’s negotiations have not touched in this area of
considerable national interest. The only other time we were allowed to vote was
in 1975 – this writers first ever vote – and for the benefit of younger
readers, it is worth reviewing the Common Market Referendum of 1975 as shown
below and as reported by the BBC:
1975: UK embraces Europe in referendum
British voters have
backed the UK's continued membership of the European Economic Community by a
large majority in the country's first nationwide referendum. Just over 67% of voters supported the Labour
government's campaign to stay in the EEC, or Common Market, despite several
cabinet ministers having come out in favour of British withdrawal. The result was later hailed by Prime Minister
Harold Wilson as a "historic decision". For him the victory came after a long and bruising
campaign against many in his own party, following Labour's promise to hold a
vote in its general election manifesto last October.
Faced with the referendum question, "Do you
think the UK should stay in the European Community (Common Market)?"
Britons voted "Yes" in most of the 68 administrative counties,
regions and Northern Ireland. Only Shetland and the Western Isles voted against
the EEC. Since then, successive governments have consistently
denied the British electorate our say in respect of ever ‘closer union’ with
the EU although Mr Cameron’s negotiations appear to have gained a Red Line in
relation to precisely that during these talks.
During the last 20 years or so,
three significant treaties have been signed and ratified without the electoral
consent or mandate of the British people which have each ceded more and more
sovereignty towards the ‘foreign entity’ that actually IS the EU. We cannot
directly elect the government of the EU neither is this unwieldy organisation
accountable to the wider electorate, indeed even the accounts have not been
signed off because Price Waterhouse cannot – for professional reasons – ratify
them and therein so clearly hangs a tail.
Great Britain is the second largest nett
contributor to the funding of the European Union behind Germany. Amongst other
things, these funds pay for a massive Civil Service machine and a fairly
meaningless European Parliament that shuttles variously between Brussels and Strasbourg.
We also bail out economic basket cases such as Greece, a nation that should
never have been allowed into the Union in the first place, neither too should
Greek Cyprus but the latter for very different reasons. Additionally, Britain
has a trade deficit with the EU and as such, we are needed rather more so than
the opposite. We can – and should – be trading with the world and, as Churchill
said “if it is between Europe and the open seas, we shall always choose the
Open Seas”
There is another very important consideration here in relation to the ‘Remain-Leave’ Question. It has to be the ultimate irony that on the 23rd June 2016, the British Electorate will be empowered by way of the democratic process to vote on whether or not we recover our sovereignty and self-governance or we cede even more powers to what might well become the United States of Europe. If the electorate vote to Remain then the democracy tool those that so vote have used maybe the very instrument that effectively ends democracy in this country.
If Great Britain is to remain a sovereign Nation State after June 23rd this year, it is critical that eligible voters get off their butts and cast their votes. True patriots will vote OUT whereas the gain-sayer’s (IN) cede their nationalities with their miss-placed crosses.
To conclude; late on the 3rd August 1914, on the eve of what was to become World war One, the then Foreign Secretary Sir Edward (later Viscount) Edward Grey, was quoted as musing “The lamps are going out all across Europe; we may not see them lit again during our lifetime”. In his case, this was to be so as he died in 1938 just as Chamberlain was doing his ‘Peace in our Time’ routine. Countless thousands of men and women have died for this country during the past 100 years so that our land may be a self-governing democracy. The battle is on now to ensure that they did not give their lives in vain.
By
There is another very important consideration here in relation to the ‘Remain-Leave’ Question. It has to be the ultimate irony that on the 23rd June 2016, the British Electorate will be empowered by way of the democratic process to vote on whether or not we recover our sovereignty and self-governance or we cede even more powers to what might well become the United States of Europe. If the electorate vote to Remain then the democracy tool those that so vote have used maybe the very instrument that effectively ends democracy in this country.
If Great Britain is to remain a sovereign Nation State after June 23rd this year, it is critical that eligible voters get off their butts and cast their votes. True patriots will vote OUT whereas the gain-sayer’s (IN) cede their nationalities with their miss-placed crosses.
To conclude; late on the 3rd August 1914, on the eve of what was to become World war One, the then Foreign Secretary Sir Edward (later Viscount) Edward Grey, was quoted as musing “The lamps are going out all across Europe; we may not see them lit again during our lifetime”. In his case, this was to be so as he died in 1938 just as Chamberlain was doing his ‘Peace in our Time’ routine. Countless thousands of men and women have died for this country during the past 100 years so that our land may be a self-governing democracy. The battle is on now to ensure that they did not give their lives in vain.
By
Chris Green
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| Beşparmak Media Services |
