It soon became apparent after my election that our Country will never be able to compete again fully on the World stage unless we free ourselves fron the clutches of the European Union (EU). It was for this reason I joined the Better Off Out Group in Parliament a Group which I was elected Chairman of a few months ago.
It is by no means only supporters of UKIP who believe we would be better off outside the EU. I believe there are millions of supporters in all the other parties who think the same. We have known for some time that the Prime Minister has been planning a major speech setting out his view for the way forward on our relationship with the EU and yesterday he announced in the Commons he expects to make the speech next month.
We already know alot of what the Prime Minister thinks. Like me he wants to see powers retrieved from the European Union. I wish him well in his efforts. I would encourage him to go further and negotiate a much looser relationship with the EU. ‘Yes’ to trade. ‘No’ to the EU trying to tell this Country what to do. We should not have to pay billions of pounds every year simply to have the right to sell our goods into other EU countries.
The suggestion which is always made whenever anyone raises the question of the UK leaving the EU is that we would lose millions of jobs. No evidence is ever produced and in any event no one ever considers how much better British Companies will do in selling their goods and services to the rest of the World when they are not burdened by EU rules and regulations. Furthermore the rest of the EU export more to us than we do to them so they have no reason to exclude us from their markets. Why would our European neighbours want to prevent us from selling our goods and services to them. I have never suggested any form of measures to protect British Companies from imports. I think we should make it as easy as possible for countries who want to trade with us to sell us their goods and likewise we shoula then have the same rights to sell to them. There is no need for a huge bureaucracy just a simple free trade agreement.
David Nuttall 
Noted you have not repled to my earlier query. On th esame issue, a major newspaper reports today that
‘Cameron is expected to say in a speech, due to take place on 22 January in the Netherlands, that the Tory manifesto for the next election will include a pledge to use a major treaty revision to underpin new eurozone governance arrangements to repatriate powers to Britain. The new terms of British membership would then be put to the British people in a referendum after the next general election’.
Would you stand for election in Bury if the Conservative Party manifesto said this – when clearly and openly you want to withdraw whatever ?
Hi,
I thought my reply on 22nd Dec dealt with this but just for the sake of clarity I think it is is positive for the EU to have a Europe of independent nation states. It is simply a different view to that held by the federalists. In any event in view of the events with the Eurozone since the election we are now faced with a very different EU. The Eurozone states will increasingly be operating as a single state.
As to what may be in the Prime Minister’s speech or indeed in the manifesto I think it is best that we wait and see. Newspaper reports have been known to be wrong!
I will of course be advocating that the UK will be better off outside the EU but in any event I want to give the people their say in referendum.
David
Mr Barber asks “do you want to pay for the people of the EU to come here and live on our taxes, overload our health service and schools[?]” and further comments that most EU migrants come to the UK to “have a panfull of kids and don’t even speak or even try to speak English but know where to get there benefits”.
Personally, I know a lot of people in my local Polish community and all of them are in employment. My Mum, who is Polish, is a hospital consultant, so rather than overloading the health service she works very hard as part of it. Regarding schools, I would suggest to Mr Barber and David Nuttall that it is well worth educating EU migrant children (not least from the economic point of view) and I have several Polish colleagues at Oxford University who we should be proud to welcome to our education system rather than accusing them of exploiting it.
I was born in 1994 – I haven’t voted for the EU, for Westminster, for my local council, for the monarchy, nor for any other institution of power, and given the scale of naivety about how the EU works I would be very concerned about a referendum without an attempt to help the public understand this better.
Just wondering if you will get round to my query ?
Did you think we would be better off outside the EU when you stood for election on a manifesto that Said we should be a ‘positive’ member ?
Good to see plenty of people espousing UKIP rather than the Tories – I can’t think of a better way of ensuring a majority Labour government in 2015!
As for you, David, you seem to inhabit this odd mindset where, if we leave the EU, they’ll be so desperate to trade with us that they’ll give us exactly the same preferential terms that a full member of the EU enjoys. Why? You never say.
The truth is that once we depart the EU – and that will be a long and expensive process – then we will no longer have any say over EU policy, but we will be subject to it, in the same way that Switzerland is.
And if you imagine for one moment that the UK with easy ‘hire and fire’ laws will see multinationals stay here to then have to put up with trade tariffs from the EU, rather than ship their manufacturing plant to within the EU, then I suggest that you (a) have a chat with those lefties in the CBI and IOD and (b) have a talk with professional economists who’ve studied the effects of a UK withdrawal.
It may look good in a leaflet and it may make you mates down the pub with the more bellicose and unaware members of the public, but believe me, it’s about the most insane economic policy that this country could adopt, and I’m frankly aghast that you might be so stupid as to endorse it.
Hi,
This is an issue which transcends traditional Party boundaries for example there are plenty of people who commentators might refer to as ‘left wing’ who agree we would be better off out of the EU. Equally there are many respected economists who also make the case for us to leave the EU.
David
But you asked the people of Bury to vote for you with a manifesto that said ‘We will be positive members of the European Union’.
Can you please explain if you have changed your mind since you were elected, and if so why and when, or acknowledge that you stood under false pretences regarding this issue.
Hi,
But the Conservatives did not win the election hence a Coalition Government which is implementing jointly agreed policies sorting the mess left behind by Labour.
On the EU in view of the problems the Eurozone faces I think that suggesting we would be better off outside the EU is actually very positive. I have a positive vision of a Europe of nation states rading with each other on the basis of cooperation and free trade with an end to the costly bureaucracy that is often stopping EU countries from competing on the World stage.
David
Good for you, and good for the UK. However, as you are Bury North and I live in Bury South, and I don’t trust Cameron, I’ll be voting UKIP.
Sadly I suspect Mr Cameron says what he wants you ( & us) to hear but he knows his hands are tied by the existing treaties that previous politicians have signed us (cheek) up too. I voted for a free market back in the refarundum of the 1970’s. Vote UKIP seems to be the only answer – it’s a straight forward in/out of the EU then.
I think you are living in cloud cuckoo land if you think anyone has a chance to claim back any powers given away by the Lisbon treaty, to lead people on that this is a possibility is dishonest. It’s either like it and lump it or invoke article 50 and get out. Then we can negotiate a new relationship with EU.
I am always concerned when Mr Nuttall speaks about the EU in Parliament. While improving the efficiency and benefits from EU legislation is so important, Mr Nuttall never openly acknowledges the benefits of the EU. I can only imagine that the EU immigrant community in Bury are deeply worried by his attitudes and I hope that at some point he will publicly support the fundamental benefits of European integration, such as the free movement of people.
Why would you expect Mr Nuttall to present both sides of an argument? A tad unreasonable, I think. The EU benefits you speak of can be available to us, whether or not we are in the EU. Last time I looked, China wasn’t a part either but nearly everything we see for sale these days is made there. Not being a member of the EU hasn’t held them back.
I’m sorry Simon but you are wrong about the benefits of the EU, what benefits. Your arguments don’t hold water, we used to have a good trade with New Zealand and Australia but it is now virtually non existant also most trade is protected by the WTO and as for ‘free movement of people’, do you want to pay for the people of the EU to come here and live on our taxes, overload our health service and schools because in 12 months time we will not be able to stop people from the new EU countries from swamping us again. Our laws are made by the EU, vat is set by the EU our road transport is run by the EU etc etc etc. The trade defecit with the EU is £40bn and our payments to the EU are billions of pounds a year for next to nowt back, no wonder the other EU members don’t want to give us our cash back because they are getting more money from theEU than they put in. Anybody born after 1957 has not had a vote on the EU so it is therefore a undemocratic instituion, i voted to leave the EU because i was not as gullible as those who voted for it when we were told it was a trading market and don’t forget we were NOT given a choice whether we wanted to join or not in 1972 by the three day week PM ted heath, what a waste of space he was.As to your remarks re the immigant communityin Bury and the UK as a whole most of them come here and have a panfull of kids and don’t even speak or even try to speak English but know where to get there benefits from so next time you contribute to this blog please get your facts correct.
At long last, someone who talks simple truth and common sense about our role in Europe.
At long last, someone who talks sense about Europe and our relationship within it!