Post on the EU 28/10/2011
Posted by Jacob Rees-Mogg, MP for North East Somerset, at 09:47, Fri 28 October 2011:
On Monday dozens of Members of Parliament wanted to speak in the debate on Europe. A time limit was set at five minutes and then reduced to four. I had prepared some remarks for so important an occasion but discarded them as I was called to speak after the argument had been going for four hours and the chamber is for debates not a succession of set piece speeches.
There were three main points that I felt it was important to make. First, we should trust the people. It is clear that they want a referendum and a new relationship with Europe. Politicians ought not to stand in their way.
The second point is that now is the time to negotiate for the European partnership we want. The European crisis means that the continental members have a major problem that needs to be addressed with which we can help them. In return for our assistance there is no reason for them to stop us having what we want. The veto that we can wield adds muscle to this argument.
Third, this is a once in a generation opportunity to order our affairs as we wish. In the context of a coalition there are many policies that can be negotiated by either side as a later majority can change things. That is not the case here which makes Europe more important than the coalition.
Thus I voted against the Government which makes me a most Conservative rebel which is not what usually accused of being.
www.jacobreesmogg.com
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Posted by Frank Hutton, 09:58, Fri 28 October 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
I salute your stand. The argument was not that we leave the EU, just that we let the people decide. I think that's what we have spent millions of pounds on and for which we risked the lives of brave men and women in various places on the planet. Yet we don't feel it's right to trust our people's decision on something so important and which affects all our lives.
Posted by Leslie Poynter, 10:55, Fri 28 October 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
Good for you. Like many others I am no fan of the Franco-German Empire and would welcome a referendum.
Posted by Henry, 11:22, Fri 28 October 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
THE UNIQUENESS OF ENGLISH LAW & ENGLISH LIBERTY
“Liberty” is an essentially English cultural invention and concept, believed by many to be the fountainhead of the extraordinary British intellectual and scientific achievement for over 400 years.
English liberal “presumption of innocence” instils a powerful social conditioning from an early age from which standpoint “one is free to do anything which is not expressly prohibited”. Whereas under the traditional old European “Roman” system (which is common elsewhere in Europe and Americas) the law maintains a tacit “presumption of guilt” in which “one is free within the constraints of inevitably complex rule systems, to do ONLY that which is expressly permitted….
This appears generally outside of Britain to create a pervasive stifling directive regulatory and legislative credo which severely inhibits, suppresses and outlaws the private expression of imaginative creativity and fundamental change.
Eccentricity and radical non-conformity are prime Old English libertarian virtues. The friendly foreign injunction “You can’t do that it is not permitted !” illicits the instinctive English Whig response “then if you personally don’t mind and its not actually verboten then I shall proceed…..”
”The grass roots” of great strategic experimental innovation and scientific advancement need generous liberal space outside the narrow conceptual locus, linear thought, didactic rule systems and (homeostasis free) directive policy control mind-set. To privately experiment and innovate, to independently create, to explore, experiment learn and play and be different are essential to maintaining this unique “British innovation culture” and this is embodied in ENGLISH COMMON LAW.
The absence of “a written” but “evolutionary constitution” and pursuit of “amateurism” in all aspects of everyday life embody important and fundamental wealth creating libertarian and social values.
This long standing “special innovatory framework” has had profound repercussions and is the basis of a kaleidoscope of unique British historica l contributions and leadership in so many diverse fields of social and technical progress and development…
H.M. Government need therefore be mindful of WHY it is that the U.K. STILL produces disproportionately more Nobel prizes, patents and scientific papers than any another country and be cautious of carelessly destroying it.
Being demonstrably superior, it is British Law which needs be “imposed” on Europe rather than the other way around..
British Inventions (ad lib - in no particular order) as:- The Agrarian Revolution, Gardening Centres, Vocational Learning, The Notion of Hobbies, Palaeontology, Geology, Anatomy, Inoculation, Anaesthesia, Modern Olympic Games, Modern World Athletics, Notions of Fair Play, Gaming & Investment Banking, Golf, Tennis & Football, Friendly Societies, Coffee Shops & Insurance, Stock Exchange, Free Trade, Operational Research, First Scientific Institutions, First Humane and Welfare Societies, RSPCA, The Samaritans, Life Boat Institution, Modern Light Houses, Building Societies, LETS, Credit Unions, The Modern World Postal System, Railways, Canals, The Omnibus, Macadam Roads, Iron and Steel Bridges, Suspension Bridges, Plate Glass, Underwater Tunnels, Municipal Gas, Street Lighting, First Photography, First Electric Telegraphy, First Wireless DX Telegraphy, Electronics, Television Broadcasting, Radar, Electronic Computing, Mass Production, First Factories, Automation, Precision Mechanical Engineering, Steam Power, Electrical Engineering, Steam Turbines, Gas Turbines, Jet Aircraft, Bicycles, Hooke’s Law, Differential Calculus, Logarithms, Anti-slavery Legislation, Civil Rights, Child Protection, Longitude Chronometers, Optical Astronomy, Radio Astronomy, Computers, Programming, Symbolic Logic, World Wide Web, DNA, Nuclear Physics, Fabian Socialism, First Income Tax, The Co-operative Movement, Limited Companies, Economic Colonialism, Steam Boats, Paddle Steamers, Screw Driven Ship, Submarines, Ocean Liners, Jet and Supersonic Air Transport, Hovercraft, Modern Public Protest Meetings, CND, Womens’ Suffrage, OXFAM, Public Newspapers, “Public” Schools, Civil Police Force, Voluntary Organisations, Constitutional Monarchy and Parliamentary Government itself!
Posted by J Clark, 15:51, Fri 28 October 2011: (Is this post abusive?) #
Spot on - makes a real change for our representatives to actually support what they know the people want. Well done.