Douglas Carswell's Blog

To be Euro-sceptic now means wanting in / out vote

This evening for the first time ever, MPs forced a division of the House of Commons for an in/out EU referendum.

Defeated by 26 to 295, the result is nonetheless significant because it marks an important change in what it means to be a Eurosceptic.

For two decades, Euroscepticism has been an exercise in foot dragging. A movement dedicated to opposing the transfer of power to Brussels, but with only the status quo to offer as an alternative.

Without a clear sense of what Euroscepticism is seeking to achieve - other than slow down EU integration - almost all on the centre right have paid lip service to it.

How often in Westminster have I heard the phrase "I'm a Eurosceptic, but...".

From today, the new breed of Eurosceptic have made as their over arching objective an in / out referendum. Not merely sceptical about the European project, they reject it. The ambivalence has gone.

Most significantly, the new radicals do not simply seek to repatriate powers from Brussels to Westminster. At the forefront of calls for political reform, they look to disperse power outward and downward at home.

The government has already accepted the principle of an EU plebiscite with its - albeit bogus - "referendum lock".

In May, moreover, every adult in Britain will have a right to decide what system we use to elect our MPs. How much longer can ministers defend denying the people a say over what powers they then wield?

Our EU membership is no longer a settled question for a sizable chunk of the Conservative party - nor the country at large.

Old style Euroscepticism is dead. Long live the case for out.

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