Douglas Carswell's Blog

How's that promise to repatriate power from Brussels coming along?

Remember how we promised to repatriate powers from Brussels?  Ever wondered what progress William Hague and David Lidington have been making?   

Every time a power is passed either from Britain to Brussels or from Brussels to Britain, I'll publish a list so that we can all see.  Here's the state of progress so far since May: 

From Britain to Brussels:

1.  European External Action Service created (House of Commons vote on July 14th, 2010).

2.  EU arrest warrant extended with UK signing up to European Investigation Order (July 2010).

3.  EU handed control over the City.  

4.  EU given powers to oversee UK budget process, and UK fiscal policy becomes an area of EU competence (see Van Rompuy report paragraph 34).

5.  EU budget increased - despite the government opposing a yet higher "settlement".

From Brussels to Britain:

nil

This week, William Hague and David Lidington will tell us of their "referendum lock".  They'll speak of enshrining our sovereignty.  Smoke and mirrors. 

Not a single one of the power transfers listed above would have been halted as a result of this bogus "lock".  And they must surely know it. 

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