Douglas Carswell's Blog

EU referendum? Looks like a choice between "Yes" or "Yes-Yes"

Twenty years after he presided over the ERM debacle, John Major is back talking about Europe.

Writing in today's Telegraph, he makes a number of rather striking points.

His infamous "wait and see" approach to the question of Britain's Euro membership is, it seems, alive and well – "the prudent would not close the door for all time". Major also appears keen to justify taking us into the ruinous Exchange Rate Mechanism on the rather curious grounds that the economy recovered once we left it.

Enough of the historic revisionism.  What does the article tell us about Europe policy today?

John Major's article confirms that the current administration is pursuing an essentially Majorite Europe policy.  Despite all that has happened these past two decades, government ministers continue to go along with the views of the Europhile Whitehall mandarinate. All those Euro sceptic promises – cast iron guarantees, even – have turned out to be so much hot air.

Perhaps John Major did not merely pen his article to defend his role in the ERM debacle? Might it be that we are being softened up for what is to come?

With the Eurozone preparing to fuse into a federation, even the Whitehall elite realise that they are going to have to give us a referendum.

It looks like we are about to be offered a Henry Ford style referendum on Europe.  Any choice you like, so long as it is in a box that says "yes". (Note how Major dismisses the idea of national self-determination as "romantic folly".)

Far from offering us an "In" or "Out" choice, the political elite seem to be preparing to offer us a "Yes" or "Yes-Yes" choice.  We'll be able to vote to either remain in the European Union or in the new European Federation.  It will not do.

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