Douglas Carswell's Blog

UKREP needs firing

Twenty years ago, Alan Clark, then Trade Minister, made the following observations about his dealings with Brussels.

British officials, known as the UK Permanent Representative or UKREP, are "totally Europhile". Their "sole objective" being to "not make a fuss about anything however monstrous".

It makes "not the slightest difference to the conclusions of a meeting what Ministers say at it. Everything is decided ... by officials ... the Council of Permanent Representatives."

Two decades later, it's precisely this sort of nonsense that helps explain the latest EU budget fiasco. It accounts for all the small print concessions that will now allow the EU to legislate with regard to UK fiscal policy - despite all we've been told about being outside the Euro.

Part of the reason we keep getting such a dreadful deal from our EU membership - regardless of which ministers hold office in London - is because those doing the horse-trading aren't properly accountable to the rest of us.

We should sack the current crop of establishment toadies who've made such a fist of things. The next head of UKREP should sit in the Cabinet, and answer directly to the voters.

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