Gordon Brown 'ashamed' to sign Lisbon Treaty, say Tories - Times Online

Gordon Brown will travel to Portugal to sign the reworked European Union constitutional treaty, but he will not attend the actual signing ceremony for the document, it was confirmed today in a decision that the former Tory leader William Hague called a "ridiculous fudge".

The Prime Minister's attendance at the signing of the controversial EU Reform Treaty in Lisbon on Thursday had been in doubt for several weeks because of a clash in his schedule.

Mr Brown was due to make his first appearance before the Commons Liaison Committee, a heavyweight group of senior backbench MPs, at exactly the same time as the Treaty of Lisbon is being signed by the other 26 EU leaders. "The Liaison Committee must come first," an aide said.

Mr Brown would have faced little criticism at home if he did miss the signing of the Treaty, which replaced the failed EU constitution dumped after its rejection by French and Dutch voters in referendums in 2005.

My Labour candidates were explicitly pro-EU, yes.  They talked about their manifesto commitments in terms of what they wanted to achieve for Wales by being an active part of the EU.

My MEPs have sent out newsletters a few times a year to members about their work, unfortunately not more widely though.

Where are the MEPs and MEP candidates? Do they actually have a clue?

no, not much. the EU is something offshore to the brits, and the links to the continent are not obvious to the low-info voter. the good ones in Wales mentioned are under-reported, meanwhile the media are only too brisk in trying to flog anti EU sentiment, as they know they get controversy points for that.

i think history plays a significant part in this, too.

the brits remember the war dead, and so it's easy to kindle sentiment against 'the continent', source of mayhem and fascism, it doesn't have to be overt, dog-whistle stuff is all that's necessary.

it's not even that fleet st. is really against the EU, they're just sluts for sales, and tickling the old stereotypes and prejudices pays off.

the problem with not joining the 'continent' community is that you're left out there alone with wet depends, when you could use a little help.

but after looking down your nose at europe (wogs begin at calais), it becomes an irrational attachment to some dwindling embers of uber-nationalism to suffer rather than be seen to be taking charity, or accepting legislative common sense from abroad.

it's ridiculously self-destructive, but there you go. old habits die hard, and the best the UK can come up with is endless dithering, and/or an aggressive, manipulative sense of entitlement which are seen from the rest of europe as antithetical to the spirit of the aquis.

of course every country stands up for its own interests, and brits are far from being the only monkey-wrenchers, the poles really take it to new levels, but i suspect there is some-behind-the scenes gameplaying going on (Libertarse) that is trying to undermine the EU, a pincer movement, with the UK and ireland on one side and poland on the other.

the EU made some silly mistakes way back with excessive regulation over cucumber straightness and similar folderol, and the gutter press really don't have to work too hard to get the old xenophobe gears grinding.

what's missing, as others have pointed out, is a feeling of community between the brits and the great land mass they once were physically part of, and (sigh) was lobbing v2's at them 70 years ago.

better education about european history, with special emphasis on the brilliant contributions to everyday life by science and culture from 'continentals' would help, but even if that were to happen today, we'd still be a generation away from being on the same page, methinks...

it's sad but true, and so unnecessary, but it'll take a lot more good faith before it's possible.

(oh for a million ET's!)

iow, 'perfidious albion'.

meanwhile, as chris points out, a lot can happen in 12 months. cameron is a younger man and thus possibly more flexible, notwithstanding his class loyalties. if his feet are held to the fire, especially about regulation of the City and the environment, it's possible we may see more progress than under brown, who should be put out to pasture where he can waffle out some memoirs.

the problem with that is his time in power has been so inglorious, i think he fears fading from politics with such failure attached to his memory.

which is why we're lucky he's fundamentally a decent, if deluded man, and not as insane as blair, bush or sarko (or berlu, for that matter). i don't think he will do anything major stupid to compensate, just fade slowly to black, remembered more for what he wasn't than what he was, an inneffectual, power-lusting, footdragging politician without a clue as to how to manage a failing economy (his supposed strong point!) let alone govern an ex-empire, crustily long past its due date.

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

I personally accept full responsibility for all the shit that MY party has landed on the UK since it came to power in 1997.

I'll go off and fix that now shall I?

You want an organisation with a stated interest in promoting closer links by democratic means, including but not limited to parliamentary democracy and referenda, to ignore those same democratic means because - er - why, exactly?

Britain in the European Union | Foreign & Commonwealth Office

What have we gained?

Common EU Myths

Europe: The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform's (BERR)

European Union Membership - The Benefits

EU Single Market - Introduction

What if we left the European Union?

Europe: it's your business (Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) [PDF]

it is a bit sparse.

Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.

Also, you've ignored my point about left-leaning legislation and not pushing the referendum issue.

Which would - in fact - have been a vote winner for Labour, if they'd wanted to go down that route and sacrifice Euro membership over political expediency.

So - no.

The reality is that there hasn't been any consistent diplomatic position from Labour at all. There's a patchwork of different preferences which seem to depend on who's talking at the time.

Perhaps that's because there are not a few people of quality and influence who stand to lose significant cash in CAP handouts if the UK leaves.

So they're happy to agitate loudly as a negotiating position, and to herd the proles along, but perhaps not as dedicated to the nuclear option as they might seem to be.

Oh hell no.  I didn't even bother considering the socio-political arguments.  These are corporations we are talking about here.

Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.

What if we Left the European Union? - BERR

1. basic Single Market freedoms such as the right to live, study and work in Europe might be jeopardised;

4. we would lose out on EU funding for research, which currently outweighs our contributions, and would   no  longer be able to influence the development of the Framework Programme. [this one is quasi corporate relevant as well, perhaps even more so than socio-political relevant]

5. guarantees of important protections for consumers could be lost;

6. workers' rights could be eroded, making it harder for employees to find a satisfactory work-life balance;

7. one of the strongest voices for reform in EU would be lost, with the result that new EU rules would be more likely to be damaging to British interests; [this one also somewhat corporate relevant]

Since then there's been a drift towards closer cultural and political integration. I'd guess some of the old timers feel this was never part of the deal, which explains part of the push-back.

But as InWales said above, we have our own 'patriotic' wingers who are captivated by a Disneyfied semi-feudal British identity. Brussels threatens this identity and promises a tidal wave of something bad or other.

These wingers don't much like anyone who isn't British.

They'll tolerate some immigrants as long as they work hard for them (middle and upper class) and don't steal their jobs (lower middle and working class). But the idea of being flooded by foreigners - i.e. anyone who isn't English British - makes them break out in a cold sweat.

The core problem is that plastic faked-up identity, and the constant media portrayal of everything that happens in Brussels as a rather floppy and bureaucratic dagger pointed at the heart of it.

And the reason for that portrayal is partly a genuine sense of outrage, and partly the expediency of being able to use public Euroskepticism as a negotiating position.

I'd guess wingers in other countries have similar motivations.

It's reactionary in the widest sense - perhaps because the UK has never quite assimilated the cool rationality of European modernism. The culture moved straight from paternal imperial arrogance to feudal volkisch nostalgia, with a side order of neo-Victorian business brutalism.

There was that hippy thing in the sixties, but apart from that UK political culture has been reliably grim, adversarial, antiquated and desperate. The only vision is a nostalgic one. Looking forward in a positive way is something that seems to terrify people.