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The European Parliament has voted by 421 to 273 against to abolish the British Working Time Directive from 3 years time. As the UK has 78 MEPs, even if all had voted to retain it (The Labour MEPs voted to scrap it), the opt out negotiated by a Conservative Government in 1993 would have been taken away and this Directive imposed upon the UK whether it wanted it or not.

Just more nonsense from the Euro fascists but this time, very illuminating nonsense because of what it highlights which is that no negotiated “opt outs” or “special arrangements” will withstand these EU people, their word is not their bond.

British Politicians Have Been Stupid

The big problem that the UK or to be exact, the politicians of all parties, have always suffered from is not understanding that everything in the EU is totally optional and no one bothers to enforce the majority of the Directives unless it suits them. As Neil Kinnock observed, the French ignore everything and just do what they want. They have never ever paid a fine levied against them and their general attitude is; “So Sue Me !”

The problem with British Law and process is that just like in the US, there are procedures that must be followed so there is no room for officials to give a Gallic shrug of the shoulders and decide to ignore something. Either it is an ‘offence’ or it is not and the classic example in British Courts is that they must interpret “What Parliament Intended by this Law…”  Indeed, over here in the UK we have nasty little bureaucrats who will ‘copper plate’ any EU Directive they get and enforce it beyond the level intended by the Brussels Eurocrats. The plain truth is that culturally, the UK can never live inside the political EU, we do need to leave asap.

The Working Time Directive

I cannot agree totally in there being no place for the State in terms of Employment Laws to regulate “minimum standards” in the workplace but I do not agree that there has ever been a place for the “Working Time Directive” in the UK. Working hours should be left to the employer/employee to sort out and relative to their industry. Try telling farmers at harvest or lambing that they can only work 48 hours…This is just another EU “Bugger My Neighbour” anti-competitive commercial ploy because they want to go home early.

However, the main problem with this lies less in the “maximum 48 hours” than the paperwork to prove that people didn’t work beyond 48 hours.  The reality is that under these Labour Governments we have seen the rise of the “compensation culture” whether over minorities, race, religion, culture or sexual proclivity. What this means is that even the smallest business would have to diligently record hours worked.

All this results in is the generation of more useless non-jobs in a “tick box society”. The reason that despite the amount of money spent on Health, Education and Policing since 1997, people do not feel that the cost is commensurate with the outcomes lies wholly in the diversion of money into jobs designed to collect statistics to prove that it is better, not enough has gone into the front line.

Keeping Promises

Perhaps the most interesting aspect concerns a legally negotiated “opt-out” and it is irrelevant what the particular subject is, working time, defence, foreign policy, taxation, abortion, freedom of worship… any such “concession’ can be withdrawn at a whim.

I wonder just how confident Gordon Brown and David Miliband can feel about their “Red Lines” or was that the name of a pub – The Red Lion ? As for the Irish faced with another Referendum because they didn’t give the ‘RIGHT’ answer the first time around, they can be assured that any promises on abortion, tax and neutrality won’t be worth the paper they are written on.

Extracting the UK from the EU

Whilst I am a ‘natural Tory’ but not a party member and I do think that Dave Cameron will make a very good Prime Minister when it comes to exiting the EU, that is where it all stops.

I do not believe that any mainstream political party will extract us from the quagmire that is the EU and parties like UKIP are a total waste of time. Logically and historically, there are no votes to be had with the British electorate over “Constitutional Matters” so even if the Tory top brass were totally committed to negotiating a withdrawal, it could never feature heavily as a manifesto promise but there is something else…

Whilst many may state their objections as “Us being British, Sterling, our EU Contributions” and so on, quite apart from not being asked via a Referendum whether I agree or not, my main objection concerns “accountability” which is essential to any democracy.

Any incoming Government that wanted to renegotiate our terms would have to overcome objections and obstructions from the whole of the “British Public Service Establishment” Civil Servants, Judiciary and the whole vested interests lobby that has been built up over the decades. Even Maggie was a fool over the EU I’m afraid, we should have walked away several Treaties ago.

The Correct Exit Route

My view is I want out but the only reasonable way to go is for the Government to negotiate the UK’s leaving terms first and then present the electorate with a Referendum on a Trade Only relationship or, a Fully In one. The result would be binding but it would mean that both sides of the case would be put. Done properly, it should become a template for any other EU country to renegotiate their relationship with the EU and that might save Europe from another war.

Whilst suggesting war might seem dramatic set against today’s circumstances, the suppression of democracy within the EU is highly dangerous, volatility will increase over the next few years as countries lack the means to distract their citizens with ‘bread and circuses’. We might be in Serbia in 1914, we could be in Germany 1930…