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Progressives of the UK EUnite!

October 27, 2012 11:02 am

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The Labour Party must start to make a more forceful defence of our membership of the European Union. We musn’t be afraid to articulate the positive aspects of EU membership. Nor must we hesitate in calling out the Tories out when they attempt to pacify their backbenches by pursuing policies that are against the national interest.

We have not done this so far.  As a result we are losing the debate and face the very real prospect of losing a referendum.

The past two years have seen a marked and dangerous shift in the UK Government’s approach to our membership of the European Union. This culminated with Michael Gove’s unprecedented announcement recently that eight Cabinet Members want to withdraw from the EU. He supposedly said that Britain should demand powers back from the EU, and if it didn’t get its way, go in a Kevin-like strop and walk out (shouting “I am not your slave”).

Labour should be calling the Conservatives out on stunts like this. They recklessly play politics with Britain’s influence abroad when people and businesses rely on the Government to get it right.

I’m not advocating that the Labour Party makes a crazed articulation of a federal dream. It should base its criticism of the Government’s inadequate Europe policy in on one simple argument:

By playing fast and lose with our influence in the committees and councils of Europe, the Government is reducing our ability to make friends and influence the outcome of votes that are key to British businesses and the 3.5 million jobs which rely on trade with the EU.

Yet Labour is nowhere on this. Yvette Cooper stood up to Theresa May over the European Arrest Warrant only to be rebuffed:

“Let us remember that it was the Labour party that wanted to sign up to the European constitution and that planned to scrap the pound and join the euro. It has no credibility on European issues in this House.”

For years those who are against our membership of the EU have been growing in stature in the UK and shaping the EU debate. We progressives have failed to meaningfully counter this. We therefore now face the real prospect of a referendum on British membership of the EU, which we may lose. Membership of the EU is inherently progressive because it says everything about our country’s approach to globalisation. In a world increasingly dominated by countries far bigger than Britain, will we be a mature partner country in Europe to tackle climate change, get the best deal for British businesses, and leverage European clout to protect human rights around the globe?

Or are we going to turn our back on the world? Shun the international forum that is most important for our global influence, approach the BRIC countries on our own, and rely on continuing US support when it is increasingly looking east?

We genuinely risk ending up in the second camp if people like you are not willing to stand up and make your voice heard on Europe. If the debate on the NHS or education had become so dominated by the Tory right as the debate on Europe has the Labour Party would be in uproar. There would be protests in the street. We need the same sense of urgency on the European debate. It can’t wait; we have already begun the slide into irrational and irrelevant isolation.

Joe Coney is Head of Campaigns at Nucleus (@eurorealist) a campaign for British leadership in Europe

Related posts:

  1. Nick Clegg calls for a referendum on Europe
  2. An In/Out EU referendum is nothing to be scared of
  3. Time is running out for pro-Europeans
  4. The time is right for a referendum
  5. The perpetual crisis in British EU membership
  • postageincluded

    I think you’re over-excited about the issue. Barring the unlikely emergence of a UKIP government there is little to no chance of  a genuinely “In or Out” referendum happening any time soon. Various types of innocuous fudge are being boiled up on all sides, of course, as has been the case since Harold Wilson invented the recipe back in 1974.

    The real, vital, and over-riding question is  whether there are votes for Labour in cheerleading the EU. The obvious answer is “No”.

    Very little more needs to be said, except to point out that there is a party that labels itself “Progressive” as a badge of pride and is strongly pro-European. If a “British Leadership in Europe” is more important to you than Labour Victory in 2015 then I suggest you haul your “progressive” carcase in that direction.

  • postageincluded

    I think you’re over-excited about the issue. Barring the unlikely emergence of a UKIP government there is little to no chance of  a genuinely “In or Out” referendum happening any time soon. Various types of innocuous fudge are being boiled up on all sides, of course, as has been the case since Harold Wilson invented the recipe back in 1974.

    The real, vital, and over-riding question is  whether there are votes for Labour in cheerleading the EU. The obvious answer is “No”.

    Very little more needs to be said, except to point out that there is a party that labels itself “Progressive” as a badge of pride and is strongly pro-European. If a “British Leadership in Europe” is more important to you than Labour Victory in 2015 then I suggest you haul your “progressive” carcase in that direction.

  • postageincluded

    I think you’re over-excited about the issue. Barring the unlikely emergence of a UKIP government there is little to no chance of  a genuinely “In or Out” referendum happening any time soon. Various types of innocuous fudge are being boiled up on all sides, of course, as has been the case since Harold Wilson invented the recipe back in 1974.

    The real, vital, and over-riding question is  whether there are votes for Labour in cheerleading the EU. The obvious answer is “No”.

    Very little more needs to be said, except to point out that there is a party that labels itself “Progressive” as a badge of pride and is strongly pro-European. If a “British Leadership in Europe” is more important to you than Labour Victory in 2015 then I suggest you haul your “progressive” carcase in that direction.

    • Josephconey

      The right in the UK set the agenda on the EU and as such are damaging our ability to protect our interests in the EU.

      Britain is becoming increasingly marginalised in Brussels, which is dangerous as the EU is undergoing great change. The UK risks waking up and finding that we have in effect been left behind by the EU.

      There are votes to be won from being positive about Britiains membership of the EU: it is good for British business that we do so, and the government cannot claim to be pro business and anti EU (just ask those in the City of London). The issue of the EU also splits the Tory Party – something labour would reap many votes from.

      I am arguing that Labour victory in 2015 can be aided by articulating a need for British leadership in Europe.

    • robertcp

      I am inclined to agree.   I am old enough to remember when Labour wanted to leave the EU.  That was just silly but being very pro-European would be almost as bad.  There is about as much chance of the UK leaving the EU as there is of Scotland voting for independence!

      • rekrab

        Seems that the Scottish parliaments legal team looked at the EU review in 2007, 2009 and 2012 on all three dates they returned a view that any Independent Scotland would keep it’s position within the EU. Ms Lamont is again well off the mark. 

        • robertcp

          This is the best article that I have seen on Scotland and the EU http://shiftinggrounds.org/2012/10/what-salmond-should-know-about-scotland-and-the-eu/

        • jaime taurosangastre candelas

          Derek,

          from that I have heard and read, it does appear that the SNP “may” have been a little bit stupid in assuming things about the legal position of Scotland and the EU before getting final clarity.  It looks as though the judgement as to whether Scotland can “assume” membership will be political by unanimous vote of all 27 existing members of the EU, and there are a number of countries which have the vested interests in not allowing a precedent to be set.  Even if the membership was to be automatic, it would probably be on terms of total agreement to every existing European treaty.

          Of course, you may disagree, but neither you nor I are the lawyers.

          So, is the likelihood of a positive vote for independence going to be increased or decreased if the Scottish people think that if they vote for independence, they will at best end up wedded to the Euro and every other EU law, and at worst be not in the EU, nor part of the UK (presumably with groats as a currency, backed by either whisky, wind or Alex Salmond’s “personality”)?  The goegraphy would remain unchanged – a small country on the very far edge of Europe, which imposes great costs by itself.  And the oil and gas is running out, and the wind technology is not ready.  So that is what I mean by the SNP may be being stupid.

          • rekrab

            Jaime,
            Nothing changes for Scotland in Europe, whether it’s Independent or not, the Scots are still entitled to European laws, I’d say any advanced nation is tied to the idea of Human Rights.It would be a bit silly for England to veto Scottish involvement in Europe. (NATO, MILITARY, THE POUND STERLING, THE QUEEN) I think the lines have precedence, and if England vetoed. then there vetoing their own opt outs?  

            Doing the pipe band tours, you met many pipers and drummers whose parents are working in the oil industry, no matter what their job is they all talk about the wealth and health of the North Sea oil.My eldest Brother worked in Aberdeen for some time with oil companies, he often took many trips to Norway and always was positive about North Sea oil life time, for promotion reasons he moved to Australia  but continues to be close to the North Sea situation making quarterly   trips back home.

          • jaime taurosangastre candelas

            Derek,

            I do not think England would want or need to veto Scottish “automatic succession” for political reasons.  There are enough other nations in Europe with separatist movements whom would be happy to do so to protect themselves, particularly if the UK then voted in their favour in some other matter.  It is a game of poker and allegiances for mutual convenience.  ”Clean hands”.

            The tories are a unionist party, but they should not be so stupid as to be seen with the dagger in the hand themselves.  You can imagine how well they will be pleased if various lawyers, Eurocrats and other countries all cast doubt about Scotland automatically gaining entry to the EU before the referendum actually occurs.

            And for the Scottish people, it may be very worrying if they think that voting for independence will result in them having the same status as Croatia or Turkey:  asking to join.  It may change the result of the referendum.

            As for the oil, who knows?  Most experts seem to believe that there is less than 30 years left.  It would indeed be brave for Scotland to vote for independence with less than 30 years of oil left.  After the oil, what is there?

          • rekrab

            Jaime,

            Westminster could hold the in/out referendum on Europe before 2014? Currently the South would vote for the opt out.
            Many people who work within the oil industry tell me, their continually finding new wells, which they cap and will return to at a later date. I’m told it’s for tax reasons.

            In these austerity times, is it reasonable to have 59 Scottish MP’s and 129 MSP’s, what given right do the Scottish MP’s have to vote on English issues and why have a Scottish parliament that is constrained when making decisions of Scottish future energy needs?

          • jaime taurosangastre candelas

            Well, I do not know about the oil.  30 years seems to be what the experts think, and 30 years seems to me to be a very short time if the “premise” for independence as advocated by Alex Salmond is the great riches of the oil.  I think he is both a short-term thinker and a populist, but there is no doubt that he is popular and probably a better “tactical” politician than anyone else in Scotland.

            It is very dangerous for a Scottish person to start complaining about the limited powers of Scottish MPs to vote on English matters, as the reality is that they are not limited from the perspective of Westminster, and English MPs have no say at all in Scottish matters.

            I wonder if there was a referendum in England as to whether to leave the union with Scotland, what would the result be?  After all, divorce can be initiated by either partner.  Thankfully (as I am a unionist), this will not happen, and so I merely need to hope that the Scottish vote will be to remain part of the UK.  But, I have no vote in Scotland, and the will of the Scottish people should be paramount.

          • rekrab

            To be honest Jaime, I certainly don’t hold the answers, the futures not ours to see! and what will be will be.I really enjoy England, it’s heritage and cultures but I’m further away from forming any type of agreement with the current load based in Westminster than ever before.In the end Jaime, I’m likely to go down with this ship, and if I sink with my community and kin and brithers, I’d rather sink than swim lightly in an ocean of poverty and austerity. 

          • jaime taurosangastre candelas

            Qué será, será.

            (…the future is not ours to see)

            I like the Natalie Cole version, although in orthodox Spanish it is a bit of a barrio construction.  She was the daughter of Nat “King” Cole, and I am sure that Alan will be able to fill in details of where we could find the best recording (not on iTunes, I can confirm), and no doubt he has it already. I have it on a Capitol Records tape cassette from 1978, but I have no cassette player now.

          • AlanGiles

             A little outside my field, I’m afraid Jaime. I only know the Doris Day version. On the subject of Nat Cole (1917-1965) he started out as a jazz pianist -you can hear him on early “Jazz At the Philarmonic” concerts (JATP) promoted by Norman Granz in 1944, and the following year he made an excellent record with a quintet for the small American “Sunset” label, run by Eddie Laguna. This is entirely instrumental, but by that time he had formed his trio and recording for “Capitol”, a record label in part founded by songwriter Johnny Mercer,  the vocals started to outdo the purely instrumental stuff, though “Bop Kick” is a non-vocal piece, (1947) he was joined by bongo player Jack Constanzo, and it proved his piano playing had progressed from his original Art Tatum influence. Like Dudley Moore, he was a much greater pianist than he was ever given credit for, his playing becoming secondary to his other activities.

  • http://twitter.com/English_Woman Sue

    Don’t you think you ought to find out if those voters that still support Labour want to stay in the EU? I know quite a few Labour people that want out too. You are in danger of sounding anti-democratic. Whether you are anti or pro, the real question is, haven’t the people a right to choose for themselves?

  • Amber_Star

    This article is no help. You say Labour should make a strong case in favour of membership of the EU. Please make your case. Tell us why Labour voters should be in favour of the EU.

    • Josephconey

      Labour should make the case in favour of British membership of the EU because it is inherent within the values of the Labour Party – cooperation and internationalism – and more importantly it is vital to protecting the interests of British consumers and businesses by giving Britain a hand in crafting Single Market Rules and instigating Single Market reform.

      From a political point of view, being strong on Europe highlights the Conservative’s division on the issue. It also allows the Labour Party to paint itself as pro-business, a stance it is going to need ahead of the next election. If the Tories are anti-EU they cannot be pro-Business.

      • MikeBrighton

        “cooperation and internationalism “…what, beggaring the peripheral states to form a huge German trade surplus as part of a Germanic Union?

        Delusional stuff.  British consumers and businesses can be fully protected by BRITISH laws, we do not need to “craft” as you put it or “have forced upon us” would be better; single market rules.

        Only the LibDems are untiled on this.  Labour is split as are the Tories.  The facts of like are however Eurosceptic and the harsh truth is you are on the wrong side of your beloved political divides.

        Deal with it.  We effectively left the EU when we didn’t join the Euro and everything else is detail.

  • Brumanuensis

    I think the biggest problem the Left has over Europe is that they have never made the eurosceptics explain what exactly about leaving the EU will magically restore our ‘sovereignty’ and enable us to be more economically ‘dynamic’. A lot of eurosceptics seem to think the Human Rights Act has something to do with the EU, for example and no-one seems to have given much thought to the point that even if we left the EU, we’d still have to abide by EU regulations for trading purposes.

  • robertcp
  • Jeremy_Preece

    Thanks to UKIP and the right wing of the Tory party there is almost no chance of having a rational discussion about the EU without it rapidly decending into hysteria.

    Theresa May recently announced that the Tories want to scrap the European arrest warrent. This was splashed over the front page of the Daily Mail under the headlines of Britain taking back national powers away from some sort of evil dictatorship. The truth was that only a month or so ago the European arrest warrent was used to catch a 30 year old teacher who had runoff with a 15 year old girl, and as a result he was arrested and the girl returned to her family.

    In terms of law and order, even if UKIP and the element of the Tory party who want to chase the UKIP vote are totally bound by the geographical boundaries of the UK, then the criminal world certainly is not. Terrorists threats, Islamic extremists, criminal fraud gangs, smugglers, various mafia organsiations and so on all operate internationally. The only way to effectively combat these groups is to fight them internationally.

    I am often amazed at how often the very same rigth wing sections who bang on about nationalism and control of the Britain remaining only within Britain are the very same people who then want to privatise British assesets, such as the utilities and sell them off to French and other national companies and shareholders. 9% of Thames water is now owned by the investment arm of the Chinese government. Am I the only one to find that scary?

    My point is that so much of the agenda for the UK in Europe is currently dictated by the right, and in the moderate and sensible world, too many people are frightened of upsetting UKIP and their voters, and so do not stand up and talk about what the European Union does.

  • David B

    If you wanted an EU supported by the people then the last labour government should have given the referendum on the Lisbon treaty which it promised in 2005. The debate on the EU was lost when the general public stop believing it was in their interests but purely in the interests of the politicians and civil servants who run it

  • AlanGiles

    Update 29.10.12

    According to the BBC Radio 4 “News Briefing” programme this morning (0530 hrs), Gisella Stewart has suggested in an interview to be broadcast with Ed Stourton that Britain should eventually WITHDRAW from the E.U.

  • Martinay

    Joe is right.  We are not promoting the EU vigorously. We need to mobilise the voices of the silent majority of people who are affected by Europe.  

    People whose work is supported by the Commission. People who can see physical infrastructure being created in their communities with EU funds. People with family elsewhere in the EU. 

    In other words, let’s hear from real people. 

    Let’s do some polling on whether people like the growth, innovation and environmental policies coming out of the Commission.

  • postageincluded

    I’m not a Eurosceptic.  I agree that some voters are Europhile enough to vote Labour just because it bangs the Euro-drum, though I think there are not many. I just can’t believe that this strategy will gain more voters for Labour than it loses.

  • http://twitter.com/desmondotoole Desmond O’Toole

    Joe is right to sound the alarm on the prospect of the UK sleepwalking into a semi- or fully-detached relationship with the European Union. However, I believe that there is a stronger argument for Labour support for Europe than relying on traditional commitments to global solidarity or concerns as to Britain’s standing in the world.

    The reason most often given for why the EU exists is the role it has played in preventing war between the major European nations. Although this achievement is now treated like “eaten bred” (i.e. soon forgotten, notwithstanding the Nobel Prize announcement), it remains profoundly important to the reshaping of our continent as a space where the rule of law and commitment to democracy prevails over violent and competitive nationalisms.

    That said, there is an even stronger and more current argument for why the Left should embrace European integration, namely the diminishing capacities of nation states to address the challenges of globalisation. The European social model of “relatively” high tax and high public spending is challenged ideologically by US-led neo-liberalism, the realities of global competition from ultra-low-wage economies and the self-interest of transnational corporations. As we have seen with the crisis in global financial capitalism or corporate decisions as to the location of manufacturing and service assets, no one country, not even the largest, has the capacity to withstand globalisation shocks to the more progressive and solidaristic elements of our social and economic model.

    The EU, on the other hand, has the financial firepower, when it chooses to use it, to challenge market actors. It has the capacity to restrain anti-competitive behaviour by companies that are otherwise unconstrained by national regulators. And the EU, through its legal system, has the means by which social progress and employment protections are protected and extended. Exit the EU and the UK will be cast adrift on a turbulent sea of globalised corporatism. Now that prospect might suit Atlanticist tories who see the real economy, where things are “made”, as utterly inferior to global financial markets and privatisation where the big money is made. But for British workers the prospect of losing the EU as a legal, economic, social and political shield against the predations of globalised capital would open the gates to the nightmare of US-style economic insecurity and social impoverishment.

    The EU has many faults, not least the failure of right-wing governments (currently leading 20 out of 27 member states) to sufficiently urgently or comprehensively address the current economic, banking and social crises. However, as our political family in the Party of European Socialists (www.pes.eu) has shown, we have the answers to how the EU’s capacity to challenge globalised capital can be used to put the markets where they belong, i.e. in the service of the people not as our masters. Britain’s Labour movement is a key ally in helping to reshape our continent as a Social Europe that puts people first. It’s time that we left nationalism far behind us and understood and got involved in where the realisation of our interests can most effectively be delivered.

  • http://twitter.com/youngian67 Ian Young

    There is not a single Tory or UKIP voice who has called for a referendum to see if British people want Cameron’s plan to have social and labour legislation ‘repatriated.’ They know that there is no support for making British workers second class citizens in Europe so cloak their arguments in shallow cliches about taking power back from the ‘Brussels bureaucrats.’

    For those in Europe like Dennis Skinner who want to withdraw in order to have a protectionist autarky, there is some logic in anti EU sentiment.

    But for the Tory tea party and UKIP they want withdrawel because the British economy is not neo-liberal enough. If Labour cannot fight this extremist perspective on its own ground, they might as well pack up go home.

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