CONSERVATIVE PARTY’S HOSTILITY TO THE EUROPEAN UNION IS IRRATIONAL

MONDAY 24 October felt like Groundhog Day when the Conservative Party’s divisions over Europe were paraded in a parliamentary debate about a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union.

The 81 Tory MPs who voted against the EU have now formed a parliamentary group posing an ongoing challenge to David Cameron’s leadership of his party.

Of course the Conservatives have been obsessing about Europe for more than 25 years, but this is not the time for a governing party to be indulging its obsession.

Emperor Nero may have fiddled while Rome burned, but I don’t believe he started the fire. By contrast, it seems the Conservative Party is determined to continue fiddling while their policies are burning the British economy.

The frightening thing is that Many Tory MPs are prepared to intensify the inferno by pouring petrol on the flames that are engulfing Britain’s economic wellbeing.

They refuse to accept that the prospect of an EU referendum would create economic uncertainty for our country leading to even higher unemployment and more hardship for ordinary people.

But the c. Britain’s membership gives us a share of the world's largest single market, which is vital for British business and British jobs. Well over 50 per cent of British exports go to the EU and those exports account for more than 3m British jobs.

Moreover, we should not underestimate how much the EU has contributed to securing peace and stability in Europe. Remember the first part of the last century was scarred by two world wars that were started on European soil.

And we cannot ignore our geographic location in the world. We are a European country so it makes sense to cooperate with our neighbours on things like the economy, security, environmental protection and social policy.

In an age of growing globalisation, it is naive in the extreme to think the UK can survive and even prosper on its own. Britain’s membership of the EU is the best way of protecting British citizens from the ravages of unrestrained globalisation. The Government’s reckless austerity measures have already led to reductions in our living standards, but life outside the EU would make matters even worse.

It is the EU that has improved legal rights for workers and secured a good deal for British families. The single market has promoted competition between companies, cut the costs of trading across borders and driven down prices. And employees enjoy better protections thanks to our membership of the EU, such as the legal right to four weeks paid holiday each year and good health and safety regulations.

I am not saying the EU is perfect; it does of course have its faults. But by working with our European partners we have a better chance of protecting our living standards by growing our economies and managing the impact of globalisation.

What those Conservative Eurosceptics refuse to accept is that the single market is the key to economic growth. And it is economic growth that is a prerequisite to creating jobs, safeguarding public services, paying down the deficit and reducing the national debt. But manufacturing output is down, the construction industry is on its knees, unemployment is going up and inflation is continuing to rise.

These are the issues that affect people’s lives, but rather than concentrating on these issues, the Conservative Party seems to prefer tearing itself apart over a self indulgent sideshow instead.