EU Referendum


EU exit: meeting the challenge


22/01/2015



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Front page lead in the Express yesterday offered the startling revelation that "80 percent of Britons want to quit EU in biggest poll for 40 years".

This turned out to be a mock referendum organised across three neighbouring parliamentary constituencies by Peter Bone, MP for Wellingborough, Philip Hollobone, MP for Kettering, and Tom Pursglove, who is standing as candidate for Corby and East Northamptonshire at the general election – all of them Conservatives.

But, in the ballot, it turns out that 100,000 voting slips were delivered to households while only 14,581 people voted, of which 11,706 agreed that the UK should not be a member of the European Union – effectively 12 percent of the sample.

As a self-selecting, unweighted poll, this is of course totally valueless – without meaning, as the Independent was quick to point out.

That paper, however, does not "completely dismiss the growing rise in Euroscepticism". It recalls that YouGov's latest poll showed 44 percent of respondents in favour of leaving. But, it says, "let's at least have a proper debate about it rather than resorting to the Express's magic calculator".

And that debate is going on, in its own distorted fashion, with British Influence hosting David Hannay, the Lord Hannay of Chiswick, former UK ambassador to the EU and UN, to give a simplistic analysis of exit options for the UK's trade policy.

Obviously unaware of Flexcit, his ideas are the usual superficial mishmash, but the man then goes on to say that some may argue that this analysis is on the pessimistic side.

"The challenge to them is to demonstrate in a convincing manner why that is so, and why one of these alternatives or perhaps something totally different is a genuinely viable option which could secure Britain's future prosperity if it were to quit the EU".

"In the absence of such a demonstration, the jigsaw puzzle of withdrawal is missing a truly critical piece. Trade policy is not the only issue that would be at stake in an in/out referendum. But it surely is a seriously important one that demands a convincing answer".

Somebody should perhaps tell Hannay that his "challenge" has been met and exceeded, except to the great and the good, mired in their own ignorance, the likes of EUReferendum are invisible.

What this is, therefore, is a challenge to the front-runners in the debate, such as Ukip, to come up with a credible exit plan, But, with a party where even its leader admits the party is not credible, and has ditched its head of policy , Mr Hannay is going to be waiting a long time for anything from that quarter.

Actually, Hannay is being more than a little disingenuous, as there was the Peterson speech in November, which he also ignores.

That, though, brings us back to the Express effort. Those who are ostensibly in favour of leaving the EU would do far better off if they concentrated on real issues, instead of producing empty propaganda, which takes us nowhere. And high on the list must be an exit plan, to nail the feline superficiality of the Europhiles.