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 The
Bruges Group expresses our deep and heartfelt sadness at the loss of our
President, Baroness Margaret Thatcher. She was our greatest peacetime Prime
Minister and a Standard Bearer for freedom, prosperity and democracy who
changed the course of British history. Baroness Thatcher exposed the folly of
European integration and argued that there was an alternative to the European
Union
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Unfortunately the Prime Minister’s speech was laden with pro-EU rhetoric.
David Cameron should recognise that membership of the Single Market hurts the
British economy because it leads to excessive interference from Brussels.
Furthermore, membership of the EU and its Single Market is not a prerequisite
for trade with businesses and consumers on the continent
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 In November
1992 26 Conservative Members of Parliament defied the government
on the Paving Vote for the Maastricht Treaty. Maastricht provided the
framework for
European government and the establishment of the eurozone. Those who defied
their
own government set-out the dangers that Maastricht posed for this country and
the
rest of Europe; the full implications of which are being played out today.
Tragically the
division was lost by only three votes. This was one of the most important
votes in the
House of Commons in the twentieth century.
We believe that celebrating the original fight to save the democratic
nation-state will
encourage politicians and opinion formers to demand an end to the damage done
by the
EU to our economy and our democracy
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How
Britain Can Exit The EU
Professor Tim Congdon
The Rt Hon. John Redwood MP
Gisela Stuart MP
 With the speakers; Rt
Hon. John Redwood MP, former Cabinet Member, and Gisela Stuart MP, Labour
Member of Parliament for Birmingham, Edgbaston. And Professor Tim Congdon CBE,
one of Britain’s leading economic commentators
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 The author,
broadcaster and political commentator, Dr Simon Heffer, talked to the Bruges
Group alongside Dr Robin Harris. Dr Harris is an advisor to Baroness Thatcher
and a political author
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Cameron’s reneging on his “Cast Iron Guarantee” to hold a referendum on the
Lisbon Treaty damaged trust in him, which contributed to his failure to gain a
full majority at the 2010 General Election. He now risks leading his Party to
the same fate as that of the Liberal Democrats, who have suffered dearly in
the estimation of the public for repeatedly failing to keep their manifesto
pledges
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 The historian
and broadcaster, Dr David Starkey, spoke at the Bruges Group's fringe
meeting at the Conservative Party Conference. Also addressing this event was
Mr Timo Soini the leader of the anti-EU bailout The Finns Party
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 Triggered by an
enquiry from a constituent of Philip Davies MP, a series of correspondence
began
between Mr Davies, the Bruges Group and the Europe Minister, the Rt Hon David
Lidington MP.
The Minister originally claimed that there were a number of benefits that
follow from Britain’s
EU membership. The Bruges Group rebutted these erroneous claims. The Europe
Minister then
responded to the Bruges Group’s countering of his pro-EU propaganda. Here the
Bruges Group
analyses David Lidington’s assertions. His response to the Bruges Group
analysis poses important
questions about the Governments attitude to the EU. These questions need to be
answered
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The Government, via the IMF, is using British money to bail out the
problems caused by the euro. However, 32 Conservative MPs voted against this
misuse of funds. The £9.3 billion can be better used at home; instead
the Government is borrowing this money and paying interest on it to offset the
failure of the euro
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 The euro is
creating a crisis across the EU, yet as always Brussels is determined to turn
this into a beneficial crisis and take more power over tax and spend; powers
which Brussels has long coveted as occupying these important policy fields
will allow the EU to truly eliminate the last vestiges of the nation-state.
Yet it is greatly disappointing that we do not have a Prime Minister that is
prepared to take advantage of the crisis in the eurozone and stand up to the
Euro-elite by forcing the return of power to our elected representatives
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 The Government’s EU
Bill being presented to Parliament on Thursday 11th November is ‘a fig leaf
designed to hide Cameron and Hague’s blushes’ says Bruges Group. There is no
reason to believe that this latest round of pledges is any more reliable than
the original ‘cast-iron guarantee’, given by Hague and Cameron, so why should
we trust them this time?
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 David
Cameron like too many of his predecessors talks tough at home but chooses to
comply with the EU when abroad. The Prime Minister stated, as his first failed
pledge, that he would block any increase in contributions to the EU. Second,
when faced with a proposed increase of nearly 6% - which equates to the UK
having to pay an extra £900 million to the EU in the forthcoming year –
David Cameron claimed that he had thus secured a fantastic British victory in
Brussels by limiting any increase in the EU’s budget to merely 2.9%. And to
wrap up these triumphs, the Prime Minister further claimed to have won an
agreement to limit future budgets by making them reflect the austerity
measures being taken by governments across the EU. But then the small print
emerged, and we see that he achieved nothing of the sort
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 Lord Tebbit, a key
figure in British public life, and the respected Parliamentarian, Richard
Shepherd MP, flew the flag for democracy, freedom and the nation-state
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 The manifesto
commitments to take back powers from Brussels and to protect the UK from the
EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights have been quietly dropped. To make matters
worse the pledge to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty was abandoned. At
the 2010 Conservative Party Conference the Bruges Group made the case as to
Why the election pledges must be honoured
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 David
Cameron’s decision to renege on his “cast-iron” guarantee to hold a referendum
on the Lisbon Treaty has evidently disappointed a great many people, but will
have surprised relatively few
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 Having failed
to deliver on his promise to oppose Lisbon in office, David Cameron now
promises to oppose future treaties transferring power. The whole point of
Lisbon is that it does away with such treaties in future. Does David Cameron
really not understand this, or is he again trying to play games with words?
David Cameron refuses to say how he’ll able to convince every single other EU
state to agree to hand back powers to Britain. He refuses to say what he’ll do
if they don’t. He refuses to say what timescale he is working to. He refuses
to say what he expects to give up in negotiations
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 The Bruges
Group made the following statement in response to the news that David Cameron
intends to renege on his pledge to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty
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 As faith in
our elected representatives is at an all time low, the Bruges Group invited
the broadcasters and columnists Simon Heffer and Peter Hitchens to discuss,
alongside Barry Legg, the topic of; Are the political parties failing the
voters of Britain? This event was reported on Newsnight and in a number of
newspapers
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For the past 15 years, Conservative MEPs have been shackled to a political
group that does not share their beliefs - the centrist and corporatist
European Peoples Party. That body is strongly in favour of an
"ever-closer union" and the gradual establishment of an EU
superstate - anathema to true Conservatives
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 Mr Cameron's
pledge was to leave the EPP within a matter of days. Those days became a gap
of three and a half years.
In the face of questions on the future Conservative alliance in Brussels, the
Bruges Group proclaims its vocal support for the rapid and determined
establishment of a new centre-right grouping in the European Parliament; and
re-launches its original Adieu-EPP campaign which advocated the case for
separation from the European People's Party
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 As a result
of Labour surrendering our nation’s democracy any future Conservative
government will find itself to be in office but not in power. At this event
the Bruges Group discussed their EU policy and looked at what the Conservative
Party should be doing to reclaim our independence
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The apparent decision by David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative
Party, to allow Kenneth Clarke to return to the Shadow Cabinet but to be able
to continue to disagree with the leader’s policies on the European Union is
unprecedented
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 At the 2008
Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham the Bruges Group asked the key
question of whether or not a future Conservative Government will be able and
will have the will to roll-back the decades of surrendering our sovereignty to
Brussels; or will it settle to be just in office but not in power?
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As the Conservative Party Conference gets underway the Bruges Group calls
for the Conservative Party to stand firm on the subject of the referendum and
to make it central to their political campaign
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Evidencing the shift in policy in a eurosceptic direction since William
Hague became leader of his party the author says Hague must now seize the
opportunity to take the next logical step: to advocate renegotiation of our
continental relationship on the basis of free trade not political union (with
EU withdrawal an accepted option, as in 1975, in the event of failure).
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As the European elections approach, the Conservative Party will shortly
begin selecting its candidates. Yet a controversial issue has not been
resolved: The Party is still a member of the federalist European Peoples Party
grouping in the European Parliament
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On Europe, John Major blew it. As Neville Chamberlain is remembered as the
Prime Minister of Munich, so will John Major be remembered as the Prime
Minister of Maastricht. Major’s European policy was an unequivocal failure,
the legacy of which the Conservative party will wrestle with in Opposition for
perhaps too long.
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This pamphlet seeks to assess the extent of Euro-scepticism amongst
Conservative Party grassroots members and clearly shows that that the
Party's grassroots are Euro-sceptic and strongly object to the Europhile
policies of John Major. The suppression of debate on Europe by the Party
leadership is also exposed.
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The origins of the Conservative Party's civil war over Europe are
analysed. And it becomes clear that Conservatives, in the next couple of
years, have to make some fundamental choices. It is no longer sufficient for a
Conservative leader simply to paint a picture of the type of Europe that
Britain would like to lead. This approach has been tested to destruction and
the Continentals are mightily unimpressed by it.
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