David Cameron has achieved no reform of the unaccountable EU’s control of British freedoms
SIR – I felt David Cameron, the Prime Minister, performed rather badly on
The Andrew Marr Show yesterday. His soundbite about Britain being better off in a reformed EU might be reasonable if it were true.
He is implying that he has reformed the EU. Perhaps he would be good enough to explain what major reforms he has elicited and how and when these will be enshrined in EU law.
What he has achieved is inconsequential trivia that will make no difference to our debased sovereignty and our control by the EU’s unelected, unaccountable, undemocratic elite.
It is evident that his attempt to restrict in-work benefits for newly arrived immigrants has achieved far less than he wanted, and he doesn’t even know how the phasing-in of those will work. When asked by Mr Marr “How much will an immigrant get after nine months?” Mr Cameron couldn’t answer.
With two million EU immigrants living and working in Britain (having arrived in the past five years), Mr Cameron has addressed nothing that will reduce these numbers. It is widely accepted that his in-work benefits restrictions will not reduce immigration. What happened to his promise “I will reduce immigration to the tens of thousands”?
This whole negotiation has been a pantomime played out to fool the voters.
Trevor Anderson
Wadhurst, East Sussex
SIR – Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.
G D Birch
Bexley, Kent SIR – I am impressed by Mr Cameron’s tenacity in attempting to wring changes from the European Union, but it is clear that there will be no significant changes to sovereignty. After all the economic arguments, the question of who makes our laws is the only thing that matters to me and many people with whom I discuss this.
I want to know that the British Parliament makes our laws and that these laws cannot be trumped by a non-elected body that does not have my country’s interests at heart. It’s as simple as that. So I shall vote to leave.
Alison Levinson
Hastings, East Sussex SIR – The weakness of Mr Cameron’s case on Europe is that we want not just reform of Britain’s relationship with the EU, but reform of the EU itself. That has not happened, and never will.
Professor Mike Hughes
London SW13 SIR – The government pamphlet before the 1975 referendum said: “Another anxiety expressed about Britain’s membership of the Common Market is that Parliament could lose its supremacy, and we would have to obey laws passed by unelected ‘faceless bureaucrats’ sitting in their headquarters in Brussels.”
I am afraid my anxiety today is in fact greater.
Peter Ferguson Western
Poole, Dorset SIR – Mr Cameron claims to have given Britain “a special status” in the EU. In reality, he has given it spin status.
Tom Fairbrother
Oxford SIR – Mr Cameron will be remembered by history as the prime minister who promised the full English breakfast of fundamental reform of the UK’s relationship with the EU, but failed to deliver a single sausage.
Phil Coutie
Exeter, Devon SIR – Michael Gove, a rare politician of conviction, is to be congratulated for his statement, published yesterday. It was a breath of fresh air. He made a detailed, lucid and courageous declaration. For the first time in living memory a government minister has exposed the EU for exactly what it is.
It invites the question: how can his colleagues, from the Prime Minister down, continue to support membership of the EU?
Eddie Hooper
Gravesend, Kent SIR – If one were unsure how to vote in the referendum, a quick look at the photo of the six towering statesmen and potential world leaders in the “Vote Leave” photos this weekend would surely convince one to vote against them.
Phil Walker
Hull, East Yorkshire SIR – Tomorrow belongs to younger people, not those over retirement age. It is wrong to let old people influence the future, so I, as an old person, do not think I should inflict my views on a society I will not be part of.
I shall vote to stay in.
John Salisbury
Dorridge, Warwickshire SIR – The seven-year brake on migrants being able to claim benefits will not stop them coming in their droves. The new Living Wage will ensure that they are attracted to Britain, irrespective of what benefits may be available.
We are better off out of the EU, able to put in place regulations that work for us, not other EU states.
Paul Caruana
Truro, Cornwall SIR – It seems that the “sweeping changes” Mr Cameron has achieved on restricting migrant benefits will last only seven years, after which they will lapse. That should just about coincide with Turkey joining the EU.
Terry Lloyd
Darley Abbey, Derbyshire SIR – The President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, has repeatedly stated that it might not ratify at least one item of the recent agreement, the “emergency brake” on benefits. He has also cast doubt on the ratification of the entire deal.
None the less, David Cameron has described the deal as “legally binding”. In the event of Britain voting to remain a member of the EU on the terms of the proposed agreement, but the EU Parliament rejecting the same agreement, who or what will prevail?
Alan Hart
Paris, France SIR – It is disingenuous of Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, to claim that Britain’s military capability or security would be compromised by a future Brexit.
Since 1949 Nato has been the principal strategic guarantor of Western defence, and this country would remain a leading participant, irrespective of its EU membership. A resolute, unified and well-funded Nato will remain the best deterrent against potential aggression.
Far from withdrawing from the “Western alliance” as Mr Fallon suggests, an independent Britain will continue to be a cornerstone of the world’s most enduring and successful military partnership.
Equally, every European nation will continue to have a vital self-interest in intelligence cooperation and these arrangements would stay in place whatever the outcome of the British referendum.
Charles Jackson
Hyssington, Montgomeryshire SIR – For generations there’s been nothing like watching our local fisherman going out into Ventnor Bay and bringing back some sea bass (as well as his famed crab and lobster) to sell in the harbour to the islanders, restaurants and tourists.
To my dismay since the middle of January next to the chalked list of today’s catch, by bass it just says “banned”!
That to me says it all. Brexit will mean we can have our British fishing industry back.
Anne Elliott
Ventnor, Isle of Wight SIR – Well, Mr Cameron tried his best, but the little he managed to squeeze out of the EU will only serve to fuel the Leave campaign. Many people now feel it will be a close vote.
What happens if Mr Cameron campaigns strongly to stay in and then loses?
Surely the country will not trust him to manage the enormous task of making an exit? Will they trust anyone in the Conservative Party to do so?
Mr Cameron and the country would be better off if he let others lead the campaigns and he concentrated on running the country.
Richard Mockett
Elsted, West Sussex SIR – Mr Cameron has described a vote for Brexit as “a leap in the dark”. Many Army parachutists have made leaps in the dark, most of them successfully. What counts is how they fight when they land.
Mr Cameron’s dogged performance in extracting concessions from his political masters in Brussels suggests he would do even better as a free Briton, landing trade deals after leaving the EU.
Richard Shaw
Dunstable, Bedfordshire SIR – Mr Cameron was born in 1966. Edward Heath steamrollered Britain into the EEC in 1973. Mr Cameron can have no recollection of the free and independent Britain which existed for more than 1,000 years before the EU. Brexit would not be a leap in the dark.
Frank Townshend
Market Weighton, East Yorkshire SIR – Mr Cameron is to offer us the chance in June to decide “what sort of country we want to live in”. An independent one would be a nice start.
Bill Swanson
Hampton, Middlesex SIR – The Europhiles led by Mr Cameron are desperate to hold the referendum as soon as possible. The European banking system is in dire straits. The Italian banking system is very fragile and Deutsche Bank is so indebted that they had to wheel out Wolfgang Schauble, the German finance minister, to assure the public that it was sound.
The Europhiles are hoping that the banking collapse will not occur before late June. Who knows?
Ian Strachan
Blairgowrie, Perthshire SIR – My decision on Remain or Leave has been made. The spectacle of Alexis Tsipras, the far-Left leader of a bankrupt nation, threatening to veto negotiations on the future government of our country is preposterous.
Let us escape from this madhouse.
Malcolm Allen
Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire SIR – Whenever Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, and Carwyn Jones, the First Minister of Wales, put on their “I Love Devolution” T-shirts, they tell us that the people of Scotland and Wales should only be governed by their elected members in Edinburgh or Cardiff. However, now that they have donned their “I Love the EU” T-shirts, they obviously believe they should actually be governed by unelected foreign bureaucrats in Brussels.
So how will they decide which T-shirts to wear for the Scottish and Welsh elections in May and for the referendum in June?
Brian Christley
Abergele, Conwy SIR – Despite the fiasco over the inability of opinion polls to predict the last general election result, the BBC is already quoting polls in almost every report about the forthcoming referendum. Should it not be a bit wary of doing this?
Jeremy Cruft
Sidford, Devon SIR – Given the description by Jacob Rees-Mogg MP of the Prime Minister’s achievement in renegotiating our relationship with the EU as “thin gruel” (subsequently watered down), was it not of note that Mr Cameron’s latest round of diplomacy in Europe was widely described as “gruelling”?
Chris Hulley
New Milton, Hampshire SIR – Putin has annexed Syria; Trump is in the White House and the UK/US “special relationship” has broken down. Britain has left the EU, causing the Tory party to split asunder, Jeremy Corbyn to get into No 10 and Scotland to leave the UK.
Nightmare or impending reality?
Jos Binns
Camerton, Somerset SIR – Watching our cat dithering on the doorstep these frosty mornings, as he tries to decide whether to go out or stay in, has led us to rename him (temporarily) Referendum.
Keith Edwards
Tattershall, Lincolnshire