David Cameron must call a referendum on Europe or face a rebellion from his own party and a backlash from voters, a leading back-bench Tory warns today.
September 18, 2011
Mark Pritchard, the secretary of the 1922 committee of Conservative MPs, is the most senior Tory yet to demand a vote on Britain’s membership of the European Union following the eurozone crisis.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Mr Pritchard says that the EU has become an “occupying force” which is eroding British sovereignty and that the “unquestioning support” of backbenchers is no longer guaranteed.
He says the Government should hold a referendum next year on whether Britain should have a “trade only” relationship with the EU, rather than the political union which has evolved “by stealth”.
He warns that the Conservatives will see constituents “kick back” if taxpayers are forced to foot the bill for the failure of “unreformed and lazy” eurozone countries to introduce fully-fledged austerity measures.
Mr Pritchard is a leading figure in a group of 120 Conservative MPs who are pushing the Prime Minister to set out a “clear plan” for pulling back from Europe.
George Eustice, a backbench MP and former close aide to Mr Cameron, is also demanding a “new relationship” with the EU.
William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, recently threw his weight behind the Eurosceptics by saying that Britain might prosper by loosening its ties with Europe.
Mr Pritchard’s intervention will further increase tensions within the Coalition.
Danny Alexander, the Liberal Democrat Treasury minister, yesterday attacked Eurosceptics as being “enemies of growth”.
In a clear warning to Mr Cameron, Mr Pritchard says Tory MPs have become tired of tolerating the “Europhile views” of Liberal Democrat ministers.
He writes: “Conservative backbenches can no longer be taken for granted.
''Conservative MPs will not continue to write blank cheques for workers in Lisbon while people in London and Leicester are joining the dole queue.
“For many Britons, the EU has already become a kind of occupying force, setting unfamiliar rules, demanding levies, curbing freedoms, subverting our culture, and imposing alien taxes.
''In less than four decades, and without a single shot being fired, Britain has become enslaved to Europe — servitude that intrudes and impinges on millions of British lives every day.
“Brussels has become a burdensome yoke, disfiguring Britain’s independence and diluting her sovereignty.”
Mr Pritchard accuses Mr Cameron of failing to honour a “guarantee” to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
He says: “The Coalition should agree to a referendum on Europe asking whether Britain should be part of a political union or of the trade-only relationship we thought we had signed up to.
“This is a moderate proposition that would attract voters from across the political spectrum, unite many on the Left and Right within Parliament and galvanise the support of most in the media.” Mr Cameron recently ruled out a referendum on the EU asking whether Britain should opt in or out. Mr Pritchard believes his “stepping stone” approach will provide a compromise.
He says that if Britain votes for a trade-only relationship with the EU, there should then be a referendum about membership on the date of the next general election.
Mr Pritchard writes: “The British have grown weary of Europe. The Coalition government should end decades of political appeasement by successive governments and champion freedom and democracy for Britain – and agree a referendum.”
Mr Cameron and George Osborne, the Chancellor, know that the unfolding crisis in the eurozone will give the Conservative party’s Eurosceptic MPs a chance to argue more powerfully for a realignment of Britain’s position in the EU.
The 2010 intake of new Tory MPs is regarded as the most Eurosceptic in a generation and large numbers of government ministers remain privately anti-Brussels.
Some hope that Mr Osborne, the Conservative election strategist, will advance a series of policies that can address the concerns of his party before the next election and in the process tap into the worries of voters.
But Mr Osborne’s Liberal Democrat deputy at the Treasury, Mr Alexander, yesterday criticised those who want to take Britain away from the EU.
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, told Liberal Democrat activists: “Sadly, Eurosceptics on left and right fail to understand Winston Churchill’s central insight that sharing sovereignty strengthens influence and isolation weakens us.
“Scottish Nationalists make the same mistake. We will never let the anti-Europeans or nationalists frustrate our national interest. They are enemies of growth.”
Backbencher Mr Eustice is spearheading the challenge to the Prime Minister over the EU.
Eurosceptic Tory backbenchers want the party leadership to act more decisively on Europe and return some powers to Westminster.
