Britain must consider the option of leaving the European Union because David Cameron is unlikely to secure anything more than minor adjustments to the relationship, the former head of the CBI says.
Writing in The Times, Lord Jones of Birmingham, the former director-general of Britain’s biggest business lobbying organisation, calls the body he once ran “deluded” if it thinks that fundamental reform is possible.
He writes that Britain ought to be asking for independent enforcement of regulation, “massive” reform of fisheries and agriculture, huge investment in Europe-wide technical establishments, abolition of trade protectionism and a stripping out of Brussels bureaucracy.
“But will it happen? I fear not. My experience leads me to believe that the chances of certain big countries changing things is nil,” he says.
The former Trade and Investment Minister in Gordon Brown’s government goes on to call Mr Cameron “insane” for promising to stay in the EU regardless of how the renegotiation progresses. “When did anyone start negotiations with ‘It’s OK, we don’t mean it, we will do what you want anyway’ as an opening gambit?
“Staying in a reformed Europe has to be the right course, but should we stay in the current mess? Frankly, our nation just can’t afford to if we are to provide our grandchildren with a globally competitive economy.”
Lord Jones’s intervention comes days before the Commons is due to vote on a Bill legislating for a referendum on British membership of the European Union by 2017. The Tories are expecting to back the Private Member’s Bill of James Wharton in overwhelming numbers with between just 5 and 20 rebels.
It will pass despite attempts by some Labour MPs, such as Mike Gapes, to use procedural tricks to scupper its passage. Mr Gapes has already put down 86 amendments to the EU Referendum Bill, even though the Bill itself is only one page long.
However, there are also concerns in government that the Bill, which has the backing of the Prime Minister, may fall when it reaches the House of Lords next year, which would leave a Tory party, currently experiencing a period of rare unity on Europe, in disarray.
Lord Jones attacks the scare tactics of those who want to stay in the EU. He calls the Government’s claim that three million jobs depend on our continued membership a “lie”, adding: “Leaving is not, as some pretend, such an unattractive option.” He writes: “There is a lie put about that. Not true. There would be free-trade agreements in place the day after our exit. Germany would demand no less. We would be free to negotiate, at more than the current glacial pace, free-trade agreements with the rest of the world.”
Lord Jones backs the Prime Minister’s decision to seek agreement among all 28 members, warning that the alternative would push voters into the arms of extremist parties.
“This should not be about the UK seeking opt-outs and exemptions just for us. Fundamental reform is not just
about helping an unemployed kid in Manchester or Cardiff but Madrid and Lisbon too. The alternative to Continent-wide reform is permanently high unemployment,” he says.
“The worrying rise of the far Right in many member states, including France, has an excellent recruiting sergeant: mass youth unemployment and a perception that economic policies are implemented by unaccountable bureaucrats.”
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