The opposition Labour Party is equally
committed to reform the EU but is also committed to stay in the EU. However,
Labour is also considering an EU referendum, but only if there is a further
shift of powers from London to Brussels. A difficult to explain position: ‘we
want to negotiate but whatever the result of it is, we stay in the EU; unless
the result is worse than the startposition of the negotiation’…
The junior party in the government, the
Liberal Democrats, are keen Europhiles; they want to remain in the EU, but face
a tough challenge to retain their position as UK’s third largest party in the
country. UKIP is threatening them on
this. UKIP’s position on the subject is the clearest. They want the UK to leave
the EU as a first step towards regaining Britain’s ‘lost national sovereignty’.
The British Greens are experiencing a
surge in membership across the country. The environmentalists are strongly in
favour of the EU because of its role in environmental legislation; however they
also want a referendum on EU membership.
The last months the discussion in the UK
about the EU membership has moved from loss of sovereignty to the burden EU
legislation forces on British industry and on the influx of immigrants.
Interesting is an Open Europe (independent Think Tank) report about the effect
on the UK GDP after leaving the UK. The margins are narrow: in the best case
scenario a rise of GDP by 1.6% is foreseen, in the worst case one it is 2,2%
lower.
A conclusion could be that EU issues are shaping the UK elections; the
end of the splendid isolation?
