British membership of the EU

Many British politicians are fundamentally opposed to our membership of the EU or wish to repatriate powers. There is even a movement to provide for a referendum on Britain's continued membership of the EU if the government is unable to repatriate some powers.

Many politicians aver that the European Commission interferes too much in British life and is really in control of British legislation.

I would like to ask this question of these politicians, Why they are so interested in Scotland remaining in the UK? Why have they panicked and decamped to Scotland to campaign for the Union? If the EU Commission controls so much of our life it makes no difference if Scotland is part of the UK or not as we are all powerless.

It is clearly untrue that the EU dominates British life to any real degree. It does not dominate the life of any member state.

I have some questions for the EU sceptics and opponents.

Has the EU said that Britain should be a republic?

Has the EU said that France should become a constitutional monarchy?

Has the EU decided that we cannot have a jury system of justice in our courts?

Has the EU told us how many MPs we can elect to our parliament?

Who decided that we would not send troops to invade Syria? Was it the EU or the UK parliament?

Has the EU told us that we cannot have an established church?

Does the EU decide on the budget for Britain's defence, education and NHS?

Has the EU forced the UK or Denmark or Sweden to join the Euro?

Does the EU decide Britain's interest rates or monetary and fiscal policies?

The EU makes policy and laws on supra-national issues such as ecology, free trade and the movement of goods and services,capital and the movement of people. We freely signed a Treaties to allow the EU to have competence in these areas.

The UK government has the power to veto important measures which mitigate against our interests. All the other states of the EU have this power too.

If the EU gets it wrong it is because our national governments have got it wrong.

If the UK government messes up over domestic policy then it is not the fault of the EU. All the true levers of power related  to UK economic and social life lie within the hands of the domestic parliament. It is disingenuous to blame the EU for our domestic problems.

We had a referendum in 1973 to remain a member of the EU and this was meant to be a lifetime agreement. The people of Britain were perfectly capable of deciding the policy for future generations at that time.

If we are to leave then lets leave for a good reason such as the EU dictating how often we have elections or dictating that UK should become a republic. We should not leave because EU food standards dictate that we should put meat in our sausages instead of rusk.

Britain could end up leaving the UK without having discussed all the issues thoroughly. We could leave because some elements of our society are xenophobic.

Britain was not forced to allow Scotland to have a referendum on independence; our parliament made the decision as quite rightly it should.

If Scotland votes "yes" then it could end up waiting a long time before being allowed to join the EU as an independent state.

If Britain votes "no" to Europe then we could end up with both Scotland and the remaining part of  UK both being outside the EU. What would both countries do then? Would they re-unite ?

It is probably in the best interests of the UK and Scotland to remain united and to remain in the EU. The EU needs reform and  a strong United  Kingdom in cooperation with many of our friends in Europe, such as Ireland, could drive that reform to everyone's mutual benefit.