Tim Worstall This is absurd! So the bankers whose excesses helped land Europe in this mess then get to sit round the big EU table, like any other government, and decide who should pay for it. And the answer, unsurprisingly, is: not them. The bigger question is: why finance has been granted such power? This  [ Read More ]

Tim Worstall In a move that has astounded British MEPs, Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the EC, announced that the levy could halve European Union members’ contributions. Mr Barroso has proposed that countries keep a third of the proceeds of the levy themselves and give two-thirds of it to Brussels. Europe’s budget would become “self  [ Read More ]

Douglas Carswell For almost two years this blog has called for a policy of default and decouple in response to the crisis in the Eurozone. How ministers and experts scoffed at the suggestion. How Treasury officials rolled their eyes.  Instead, they pursued a policy of bailout-and-borrow.  First under Labour, and then under the Coalition, billions  [ Read More ]

Ruth Lea Leaving aside the turmoil in the financial markets, driven by fears for the US economy as well as concerns over Europe, August has been a difficult month for the Eurozone. Fears over the rapidly rising yields on Italian and Spanish debt triggered major, and controversial, purchases by the ECB at the start of  [ Read More ]

John Redwood The UK’s price for agreement to a more centralised Euro area government should be a looser relationship for ourselves with the emerging collosus. Most British people I talk to want trade, peace and friendship with our continental neighbours. The majority do not want a government in Brussels telling us what to do in  [ Read More ]

  John Redwood In the post imperial world of the last seventy years the UK has sought to continue in a global role. This has caused arguments. Some have argued that we do need to join a United States of Europe, to have influence over a rising regional power in Europe. Others have said we  [ Read More ]

John Redwood We have seen that the UK’s foreign policy has lurched from wanting a divided Europe with no one power dominating our near neighbours, to accepting the drive to European integration. This has never been put honestly and openly to the British people, who have been told sovereignty and power still rests with them,  [ Read More ]

The People’s Pledge Several interesting things happened on Monday night in the Commons. If you’re a keen supporter of the European integration project you will be pleased and no less surprised, but if you count yourself as a Eurosceptic you should still find reason to be cheered. We start off with the Commons’ consideration of  [ Read More ]