05.10.11
British treaty change ‘not current priority’
The Foreign Secretary, William Hague has warned that the opportunity to bring powers back from the EU to Britain could be “many years” away, and not under consideration at the moment.
Many Conservatives would like Britain to disentangle itself from the EU, but the Liberal Democrats – and, some suspect, the Conservative leadership – are more pro-European. Mayor of London Boris Johnson has suggested a referendum on the topic could be “a good idea”, although Prime Minister David Cameron wants to bury the issue to focus on the economy.
Hague told the BBC that the wish to bring powers back from the EU was “not currently the position of our whole coalition government”. He told the presenter: “Don't run away with expectations that there is about to be some major treaty change; these things take years to negotiate and then to ratify in other countries.
“The moment that may come to put right some of the things we want to put right may come over a period of some years, or many years, rather than this week. Our economic priorities are absolutely top of the list this week in Manchester.”
Johnson suggested that a referendum, required for any major transfer of powers, could be interesting. However, he later issued a statement saying that the suggestion was merely hypothetical.
He originally said: “The British people haven't had a say on Europe since 1975. There hasn't been a vote. If a reasonable question could be framed and put to the people of this country it is not a bad idea.
“I think if you had an in-out referendum, I would be very, very interested. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the British people, having really thrashed the arguments out, might decide that voting to come out was not the answer but what they wanted was some looser relationship. They might want to re-negotiate the package, they might want to get rid of some competencies of Brussels.”
The issue is set to be debated in the Commons later this year.
Tell us what you think – have your say below, or email us directly at [email protected]