EU Referendum


EU Referendum: reform is not an option


28/05/2015



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Even before the Monarch had delivered Mr Cameron's promise on an "in-out" referendum – the one so many Ukip supporters said he couldn't be trusted to honour – the Guardian was announcing that Kate Hoey had got backing to head the "no" campaign.

This may well be mischief on the part of the newspaper, although it is interesting to see that the mainly left-wing, pro-EU media is taking a far greater interest in the "EU NO" campaign than its right-wing equivalents, most often steering us in the direction of Matthew Elliott's Business for Britain.

To have the pro-EU media thus directing us has to say something, but if we are to take the Guardian report at face value, we learn that Kate Hoey, supposedly "one of the most prominent Eurosceptics in the Labour party", is being lined up as a possible leader of the "EU NO" campaign in the referendum.

Her champion for this role, it seems, is John Mills, a player in the "no" campaign in the 1975 EEC referendum and currently one of the donors who is keeping Mr Elliott's operation afloat.

Mills describes her Hoey, MP for Vauxhall, as a "tough fighter" who would appeal across the political spectrum. "I think she is a very strong, feisty figure. She is respected, she is liked. She knows her own mind", he says, adding that she is a reliable cogent figure - " important qualities that you need in somebody who is going to lead a campaign like this".

It is not entirely unreasonable, however, to ask by what right Mills feels entitled to nominate a leader for the "EU NO" campaign. If there is an official campaign, it will be an umbrella group made up from an as-yet unknown mix of organisations. They might not want to be taken for granted and, at the very least, might expect to be consulted – just supposing a single leader is wanted, which is already a very dubious proposition.

Some of Hoey's comments here - about consultation - could equally apply to the attempts to railroad anti-EU campaigners into accepting various "leaders". And while, in the past, she has argued strongly for unity amongst eurosceptics, this is not the way to achieve it.  

Then there is the other important question - whether Hoey is at all suitable for the task. Certainly, she has argued for a referendum and has spoken for leaving the EU. But, according to her own account, she is not a principled "outer". She is a self-declared "reformer", committing only to withdrawal only if the EU fails to reform to her liking.

In this, she has a great deal in common with Mills, who says he will make a final decision on whether to support the "EU No" campaign after the conclusion of Cameron's renegotiations, and Mr Elliott's Business for Britain, which holds the same stance.

This pursuit of "reform" however, should rule out all people and organisations committed to it, as totally unsuitable to hold prominent positions or even take part in a "EU NO" campaign.

And to understand the reasoning all one has to do is read the relevant chapters of The Great Deception concerning Britain's entry first to the Coal and Steel Community in 1950 and then to the EEC. The point at issue then was that Britain, in organising its relations with mainland European countries, had to make a decision in principle as to whether to work on an intergovernmental basis or join in with the Six in the creation of a supranational authority.

This was the issue which Churchill and other MPs addressed during the Commons debate on the Schuman Plan in June 1950. The "supranational" Coal and Steel Community being proposed was one which had "the power to tell Great Britain not to cut any more coal or make any more steel, but to grow tomatoes instead". And to that, Churchill declared he would say, "without hesitation, the answer is 'No'".

The longer-term response, after the UK had also rejected the idea of the supranational EEC, was to set up a rival organisation, the intergovernmental European Free Trade Association (EFTA). This still exists to this day, although without its founding member.

And there lies the choice currently on offer, the choice between supranationalism and intergovernmentalism. This is the same choice that was on offer in 1950 when the right decision was made but which was so tragically reversed in 1972 when the Government took us into the EEC.

Crucially, surpranationalism is the defining characteristic of the EU, and the one which makes it so objectionable. Thus, you cannot reform it in any meaningful way – take away its supranational character and it ceases to be the EU - it becomes something else. To expect otherwise is to expect a cat to bark.

On that basis, there are only two options when we are asked whether we want to remain in the EU - "yes" or no". No amount of tinkering around the margins will make the EU less of a supranational organisation, and therefore reform is an irrelevance. To vote "no" is to reject supranationalism - to vote "yes" is to accept it. The idea of "reform" means nothing to us - a reformed supranational organisation is still a supranational organisation. There is not and cannot be a middle way.

When it comes to polling day, there question on the ballot paper will invite an answer: "yes" or no" – but the underlying question is: do you accept or reject supranationalism? That is the real issue in this referendum, the same issue that Churchill spoke to in 1950. And to supranationalism, we should say the same: "without hesitation, the answer is 'No'".

For Churchill, there wasn't a "maybe" option – no pick 'n' mix menu. There is none now. Anyone campaigning for the "EU NO" proposition has to be committed wholeheartedly to opposing supranationalism as a matter of principle. Anyone else belongs on the other side.