LONDON – Veteran Tory Eurosceptic Bill Cash warned that European leaders’ failure to deal with debts could turn voters towards extremist politicians.
Speaking in a House of Commons debate last night, Mr Cash branded the EU “completely undemocratic”, saying: “When previously in France, Holland, Ireland and Denmark there have been referendums, the No vote has been overturned by bribing and threatening the electorate. This kind of behaviour, combined with economic and political crisis measures, is a fertile breeding ground for the far right.”
Mr Cash also attacked the Conservatives’ coalition partners, dubbing the Liberal Democrats “an obstruction to our vital national interest”.
Tory Eurosceptic John Redwood said prime minister David Cameron had no alternative but to reject what he described as a “very unsatisfactory deal” at the European Council.
“We have learned subsequently that a number of EU member states couldn’t go along with the draft any more than the UK could,” he said. “And we have learned subsequently that France, Germany and others have been beating a path to the foreign office door, trying to get us back on board, trying to woo us because we had the courage to say no,” he said.
But shadow foreign office minister Emma Reynolds criticised Mr Cameron for not continuing to negotiate with other EU member states over a new treaty.
She said the prime minister had pursued an isolationist policy since the Tories were in opposition when he pulled the party out of a centre-right coalition of European parties. Mr Cameron was guilty of putting the interests of the Conservative party ahead of the national interest, she added.
Labour MP Mike Gapes claimed Conservative MPs wanted the euro to fail because they were opposed to monetary union: “It is in Britain’s national interest for the euro zone to succeed and for this current crisis to be resolved. You want to see the euro zone fail because you believe that somehow this will be in the national interest. It will not.” – (PA)