Alan Meekings deserves credit for his consistency. He has opposed Brexit in every way, at every turn, almost as decisively as I have supported it.
So, assuming mutual respect, his question to me about the benefits of escaping from the suffocating clutches of the European Union (The Voice 5/12/19) warrants a straightforward answer.
For more than 40 years I have fought the EU’s costly, creeping control of our nation for this abiding reason; in any system of Government that deserves to be called democratic, the decisions of legislators should be exercised close to the people they affect, with those who wield power being accountable for such decisions.
When political authority becomes remote it becomes, in turn, careless and capricious.
Because those who make laws in Parliament are prone to the same faults and errors that characterise all men and women, their authority – which stems from free and fair elections, – must be subject to checks and balances.
Democratic legitimacy is shaped in this way.
The European Union stands in stark contrast with these fundamental democratic principles, as Mr Meekings and other EU enthusiasts presumably know.
It may assist understanding if I explain how EU laws are made. In essence, they are drafted by an anonymous Commission official who appoints a committee of lobbyists to advise him. The result is then bartered over by civil servants, behind closed doors. MEPs then get to tinker – even if all UK MEPs unite against a law that damages our country’s interests, as we make up just a tenth of the votes, British influence is limited. Ministers then get to barter in secret: eighty per cent of which is done without a national veto, and often through an “A Point” without a vote taking place at all!
Civil servants back in Whitehall then add red tape to the draft, to avoid any chance of being taken to the European Court of Justice by the Commission. Only then do our MPs get a say, and they can’t change anything – it’s too late.
So much for democratic legitimacy!
By taking back control of decision making we can ensure that the people who make our laws are the Members of our Parliament, directly accountable to the people their decisions affect.
Those arguing that, despite the abject failure of past efforts, EU reform is possible should be clear about what that really means for our country: sacrificing our national sovereignty as a part of a federal United States of Europe. “Ever closer union” is the declared direction of travel after all.
In considering what to do next some might choose to continue to delay and dither with Mr Corbyn’s Labour Party and have yet another referendum, others could opt to ignore the people’s will altogether – cancelling Brexit without a chance for voters to have any say at all – such is the arrogance of Miss Swinson’s Liberal Democrats (given their denial of democracy their very name barely seems appropriate!).
To do either would be to frustrate the wishes of 17.4 million Britons who voted for Brexit in the 2016 referendum – the biggest democratic exercise in our nation’s history.
It would also be to ignore the huge number of those who voted to remain but accept the result.
Brexiteers and reasonable Remainers want Britain to move on – to end uncertainty by getting Brexit done. The only way of doing so is to elect a majority Conservative Government this week.
That is why I respectfully ask for the vote of true democrats in South Holland and The Deepings on Election Day, (hoping that Mr Meekings is amongst those who can be described as such).
Sir John Hayes
Conservative Party candidate
