So Predictable
The Lisbon Treaty is on the verge of being ratified, the Conservatives have not managed to delay it until after the election and so now we have a change in policy from Cameron on the issue. I wrote a week ago about how the policy on Europe was about to change and now it seems I was right.
Instead of having a referendum commitment on Lisbon, the Tories will instead hold a review of our relationship with Europe as a whole. The way it’s being put is that a referendum on an already ratified treaty is just expensive gesture politics – which it is. However, let’s be clear here: The Conservatives line on Lisbon has finally caught them out.
It was short sighted and stupid at best to presume the Czechs would stall the process. Tim Montgomerie wrote on ConHome last night about the issue stating that Cameron promised a referendum on an ‘unratified’ treaty and nothing else. That is true, however we would be kidding ourselves if we genuinely believed that the manifesto mandate to renegotiate our relationship with the EU was always in the plans. Clearly this is a reasonably hastily drawn up idea. The issue of Europe could have imploded at conference and it is credit to the media operation that it didn’t. However, the media’s questions about the Tory line on Europe were valid and this shift in policy is proof of that.
This exploration of our relationship with Europe is something which is a good idea. Lisbon is only a small aspect of the wider project and thus it is important that an incoming Conservative government has a serious debate about where we as the United Kingdom want to be in Europe. There are some in the party who think this change in policy shows that Cameron is shaky on the issue of Europe. I for one never really understood the line on Lisbon and I was not totally satisfied with it.
I still believe that David Cameron is pretty euro-sceptic and thus I have confidence that he will deliver on this policy. At this stage before an election it’s important that there is a strong policy on Europe. Perhaps it would have been better to have announced the policy earlier and not campaigned for a Lisbon referendum in order to score cheap political points, but we have a strong policy now and that is what matters.
Labour seem happy to see our country swallowed up for the beast of Europe. They are not even wanting to seek the opinion of the British electorate. The Tories are the only party prepared to look seriously at our position in Europe. it falls to the Conservatives to once again rescue the country from the pit of despair. I am convinced that we will, at the very least have the opportunity to vote for a party now whose line on Europe to begin with is “thus far and no further”.
This new policy should help the Tories to come out of the Lisbon situation relatively unscathed.
