Author: johnredwood

I did not understand why there was so much hype about Mrs Merkel’s visit. She is a cautious politician who always prefers to put off decisions or difficulties where possible. Her speech did not say Yes and did not say No. It was a model of ambiguity.

Given Mr Miliband and Mr Clegg’s position that the UK should stay in the current EU without renegotiation and with no referendum to allow us to leave, Mrs Merkel rightly concluded the UK problem  can be deferred until after the 2015 election.  Only if Mr Cameron wins will she need to have a new approach, when she will then want to try to keep the UK  in, knowing that many UK people just want a vote to get out. She will then face a united UK government that cannot accept our current relationship.  There will be no offer to the UK all the time the UK Parliament is short of a Eurosceptic majority.

If someone fails to pay their electricity bill or their Sky subscription the company concerned can pursue the customer for the money and should  succeed in getting the money back with a civil penalty. The law says the customer should pay for the goods and services supplied, but does not make failure to  payment a criminal offence.

So why is the BBC licence fee, another service charge for customers, any different? Apparently 12% of Magistrates’ courts time is taken up with prosecutions for failure to pay the  BBC licence fee. Anyone found guilty then has a criminal record. The poor and elderly figure prominently in those who get a criminal record by these means.

Andrew Bridgen MP is proposing an amendment  to the Deregulation Bill to shift the BBC licence fee from a criminal matter to a civil matter like any other household bill. Do you agree this would be a good move? It would free Magistrates courts of these criminal cases, and create parity of treatment between the BBC and other tv service providers.

Dear Mrs Merkel,

You will be made most welcome in the UK today. Many of us wish you well in your battles to improve financial discipline within the Euro area, to sort out the problem debts and deficits in the zone, and the remaining substantial difficulties  in Eurozone banks.  We would like the rest of the Eurozone to enjoy similar growth and prosperity to Germany’s, based on hard work, enterprise and business success.

As you know, the UK did not join the Eurozone, for both economic and political reasons. Seeing the damage the European Exchange Rate Mechanism did to us and others on the continent, we showed ourselves to be good Europeans by staying out. Had the UK entered, with a banking system and economy that was not harmonised with the rest, we might well have brought the whole Euro crashing down in the crisis of 2008. Who would have stood behind the UK banks at risk when we no longer controlled our own money supply and money markets?

We also stayed out because the UK electorate and government have no wish to be part of a common government from Brussels. The UK entered the EEC  after the founder members, and did so to belong to a common market. It was such a concept that the voters approved by referendum in 1975. They did not consent to ever closer union, and more common government. They were reassured by the Labour government at the time that we would not lose sovereignty.

Today UK voters want reform in many areas. They want benefit reform, better control of our borders, cheaper energy, better flood protection, less interference with small companies and enterprise. In each of these areas the UK government is blocked or diverted by EU laws.  Increasingly we feel we suffer from having two governments for the price of three, with high taxes and high energy prices limiting our ability to compete with the USA and Asia.

The UK is of course willing to back Germany in any sensible moves to tackle the problems with dear energy, open borders and welfare reform on an EU wide basis. However, at the same time many in the UK want a new relationship with the EU. We have no wish to stand in your way as you go about your necessary task of leading the Eurozone to reform and greater economic policy control from the centre. As non Euro members we wish to go in the opposite direction, and need to protect our interests as an independent trading nation.

We of course have no wish to impose any new constraints on German exports to the UK. We appreciate the importance of the UK market to you , with many here enjoying  buying  German goods. Similarly we are sure Germany would not wish to impose any new barriers against UK exports to the continent.

I wish you a happy stay, and trust we can make progress both in general EU reform and in establishing  a new relationship for the UK as a non Euro member wishing to restore its national independent democratic government. Many of us who are English would also like our country to be recognised and to be proeprly considered in debates, instead of being pushed off the map of Europe altogether.

Yours etc

I was pleased to read this week that Mr Cameron plans to rule out another coalition with the Lib Dems after the next election, if Conservatives have not won a a majority. As a Conservative who did not want a coalition last time, the experience of the last few years has not changed my mind. The Lib Dem refusal to allow any renegotiation of our relationship with the EU, and above all their refusal to allow an In/Out referendum shows why coalition is a bad idea. In order to make the right decisions and choices for the UK we need to remove ourselves from EU government, whilst continuing to allow Germany and others to sell us all their exports in return for access to their markets.

Mr Cameron’s wish to rule out any future coalition underpins his promise of a negotiation and a referendum on the EU as urgent business in the next Parliament. If we want cheaper enegry we need to change the arrangements with the EU. If we want to control our own borders we need to change the relationship with the EU. If we wish to limit welfare payments to recently arrived people in the UK we need to change our relatiosnhip with the EU . There are many more areas where Ministers cannot do as they wish and as the public want owing to EU Treaty commitments, regulations and directives.

The current Commons has an inbuilt pro EU majority from Labour, Lib Dems and nationalist MPs. The one Eurosceptic party, the Conservatives, is prevented from dealing with the EU issue as it wishes by coalition. I am glad that will not be a problem next time. Now all that remains is the issue of whether the public will vote for a Eurosceptic party that can win the General Election or not in sufficient numbers to create a Conservative majority. Our chance of an In/Out referendum rides on that, as all the pro EU parties in the present Commons are united against a referendum.

I wish the different factions and forces well in the Ukraine. They need to settle down after the violence on both sides, to working through democratic and peaceful means of settling their disputes. That is not something the UK can or should try to do for them.

I hear they now want loans and grants from the IMF and EU to make up for the frozen Russian loan which they have disrupted by their recent change of government. We should be careful before allowing any of our money to go to the Ukraine. We have just witnessed scenes where the people of Ukraine have been demolishing street furniture, pulling up paving and parading in paramilitary uniforms instead of peacefully going about their business. Some say they had to do that, but before we advance any money we should seek sensible reassurance that in future the people of Ukraine will take care of their collective property. Loans require a government to be in place which is properly elected, peace loving, and in charge of the country. Any such government needs an economic plan which makes sense, and an ability to control its debt and deficits.

We should also ask what collateral there is for any loans they seek. How will any new  Ukrainian government go about boosting the economy, as Ukraine’s main economic problem is too little output and low incomes. Will their policy be more successful than the last? Will it be continued by whoever wins the next election?

How will the Ukraine sort out its energy dependence on Russia? Will this entail higher gas prices, and what will that do for an already weak economy?

My constituents will want evidence that lending money to the Ukraine would help them and that we will get it back, before the IMF  sends anything on our behalf. I sought assurances from Mr Hague on this yesterday in the Commons. He did confirm that the lending would not be without conditions.