It appears that David Cameron still doesn’t get it. Although he abandoned his “cast iron” pledge to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in his speech earlier today, he is still talking as if negotiations with the EU about Britain getting rid of those EU agreements the Tories don’t like are possible and something the Tories would be able to do.
Let me remind Mr. Cameron that the UK is fully signed up to the three issues he seeks to get rid of (see the relevant extracts from his speech set out below). Undoing EU agreements once have been concluded by all the member states has no real precedent in the EU and, as Mr Cameron has to admit, his attempts to unpick EU agreements would need the support of all the 26 other EU member states. Does David Cameron really think this is going to happen? Why would the EU wish to allow Britain more opt outs than we already have and in the process create a precedent that no Treaty or agreement is sacrosanct and can be modified willy-nilly at the whim of one member state.
Mr. Cameron, I tell you that what you are trying to sell to the British people is a whole lot of smoke and mirrors. You may wish to base your policy on quicksand to maintain the grace and favour of the Conservative Party. The people of Britain deserve much more.
“A Conservative Government will address some of these problems by negotiating three specific guarantees with our European partners guarantees over powers that we believe should reside with Britain, not the EU.
“So we will want to negotiate the return of Britain’s opt-out from social and employment legislation in those areas which have proved most damaging to our economy and public services for example the aspects of the Working Time Directive which are causing real problems in the NHS and the Fire Service.
“The second British guarantee we will negotiate is over the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
“We will want a complete opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
“The third area where we will negotiate for a return of powers is criminal justice.
“That will mean limiting the European Court of Justice’s jurisdiction over criminal law to its pre-Lisbon level, and ensuring that only British authorities can initiate criminal investigations in Britain.
“I recognise, of course, that taking back power in these areas, or negotiating arrangements that suit the UK, is not something we can do unilaterally.
“It means changing the rules of an institution of which we are a member – changing rules that Britain has signed up to.
