eurealist.co.uk

I woke up this morning with the vague thought that that I should write about the Conservatives recent

Whatever the tactical gains in the short run from triangulation, in the long term it threatens to poison our political system. The greatest challenge to our democratic process is the growing number in the electorate who find it hard to identify with any party, or to accept the conviction with which political figures hold their views.

rise in popularity as revealed in the polls, local elections and Crew, with relation to the effect that recognition might have on what EU policies we can expect from them come the next election.

It is well understood that the Tories are playing their cards as close to the vest as possible, because when they have announced any policy that has gained public approval, it has only taken the Labour government about a week to copy it, see the scrapping of the Regional Assemblies and inheritance tax.

Not that this is a new theme from New Labour, I well remember an interview on BBC Today programme, back in the days when I still thought it worth listening to, when either John Humphrys or James Naughtie was questioning the looser of the 1997 election, John Major. Who ever it was, made some remark about the Conservative support for New Labour polices, to which Major replied yes of course we support those policies because before they were Labour policies they were Conservative policies. Major could have expanded on that theme and explained that as those policy outlines were agreed in the EU neither party had much choice in the matter. But that is problem with the political and media treatment of the EU, there is so little outward acknowledgement that membership of the Union has evolved in such a manner that it is binding all parties to the same policies.

This so called copying of other policies is has been labelled “triangulation” which was described by Robin Cook in The Guardian November 26 2004

They are devotees of the practice of triangulation, and believe that elections are only won by stealing your opponents’ clothing, rhetoric, issues - and, hopefully, their votes. If the Conservatives pose as tough on law and order, then Labour must pose as even tougher.

Whatever the tactical gains in the short run from triangulation, in the long term it threatens to poison our political system. The greatest challenge to our democratic process is the growing number in the electorate who find it hard to identify with any party, or to accept the conviction with which political figures hold their views. The most frequently articulated complaint is that “you are all the same”. Yet, perversely, the objective of triangulation is to minimise the difference between a party and its rival, and to deny the electorate a real choice between competing value systems. The real enemy for Labour at the next election will be neither Tory nor Lib Dem but apathy. But we will not motivate our supporters to turn out and vote for us by pretending that we share our opponents’ priorities.

Of course the term “triangulation” is only a fancy way of explaining the lack of independence our political parties have if, when formulating polices, they must consider EU agreements that have been signed sealed and delivered by previous administrations. And Robins Cook’s explanation of it is an excuse that hides the truth, rather than the real reason why parties policies are so close on so many areas of government. There is after all really not much point in producing a raft of policies that conflict with EU laws and legalisation already in the pipeline, unless you are prepared to take the next logical step of addressing the power the EU has over national polices. And that is something which none of the major parties are prepared to contemplate; something explained by Dr North this week -

if “renegotiation” was ever on the cards, a necessary precursor would have to be a commitment to leave the EU, which means that those who are really serious about seeking a new relationship with the EU though this means must first accept the essential precondition.

Dr North goes on to explain that to contemplate leaving the EU would require a serious studies of the alternatives available to a Britain with a different relationship with the EU, and none of the parties is even looking at those alternatives. Certainly not the Conservatives who like to be thought of as anti EU because it plays well with the public.

Nick Clegg suggested this morning in the Telegraph that the Conservatives are elevating policy evasion to an art form! They certainly do seem to have gained their position of favour without offering any concrete policies, which makes me believe that it is an anti - Labour and Gordon Brown vote, rather than pro - Conservative.

Clegg`s use of the word “insurrection” is an interesting choice meaning as it does rebellion, civil disobedience or mutiny? Rather than acknowledging the publics right to change its government, Clegg seems to believe that to do so is a matter of sedition therefore something to be frowned upon which should be resisted by the state. To make such a suggestion he is of course conflating the Labour government with the state and questioning the public’s right to vote for a political party which offer change.

Not that the Conservatives are offering change, as Clegg rightly says The Conservatives have painted an image of a brave new world, where the sun shines and David Cameron charms the birds out of the trees. The Cameroons have started to believe their own hype: insisting on their right to enter Number 10 without working out what they’d do once the door closed behind them. Mind you all Clegg offers for LibDem policies are a rehash of acceptable EU polices that would be on the cards which ever party wins the next election if not before. That Clegg is doing so, is perhaps not surprising given the EU history of Mr Clegg and the fact that as someone who is in receipt of a pension from the EU, he has already shown his capacity to ignore his own election commitment on holding a referendum of the EU Treaty thus furthering the aims of the Union.

It is this special place for the EU and special treatment of its proponents, which is so destructive of our own democratic system of government. In any other field, receipt of an annual payment from any organisation would be considered an important pointer to their individual independence of interest but for some reason those who are receiving large pensions from the EU are deemed to be above paltry suggestion that these personal payments might conflict with their interests in our own parliament.

From an EU perspective the Conservatives lack of clearly defined policy, if it were maintained right up to the Election, would allow a new Conservative administration to drift aimlessly along with the general stream of further political integration. The statement that something would have to be done about the Lisbon Treaty if it were ratified before the next election is far too lax to have any meaning in the real world of EU politics. Even if Lisbon were not ratified the Conservatives would find themselves in a position of immediately opposing the EU on a very important issue and they have shown no obvious taste for such a battle.

In reality the only party policies which have any meaning are those which in are areas that conflict with the EU policies, or in the one or two where we have retained a veto. Then only if the point is clearly made that nothing will change the determination to see those polices brought to fruition, even if it means discord within the EU, even if it means unilateral legalisation within our own parliament, even if it means going directly against the previously agreed EU agenda. After all what exactly is the point of electing a new government when they will be bound hand and foot by agreements made by Tony Blair ten years ago, if that were to be the position we might as well stick with the present administration. As Cook said the greatest challenge to our democratic process is the growing number in the electorate who find it hard to identify with any party, or to accept the conviction with which political figures hold their views.

So perhaps Glegg is right there is a whiff of insurrection in the air but it is not against just the Labour party, but against the cosy agreements made between all the political parties to keep us in the EU, to deny us a vote on any EU issue and to keep the EU off the political agenda as much as possible during election times.

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Conservative policy, EU interference, insurrection, democray,
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