Today, Dr Fox delivered a speech on Europe to theTaxPayers’ Alliance in London. In it he said:
‘BritishConservatives are often caricatured both at home and abroad for having apolitical obsession with the European Union. Yet, anyone who watched the recentG 20 Summit would have realised that not only had the “obsession” gone globalbut that there was a very good reason for doing so. The failure inside theEuropean Union to deal with the crisis in the Eurozone is now posing a realthreat to the well-being of the whole global economy.’
He went on to say that:
‘Thesingle market was one of the most important aims of the European Unionproject,’ but that ‘overnight, the “acquis communitaire”, thecommission and the ECJ quickly sought to extend their competence to employmentand social security law as well as health and safety. It was that development,the fact that she had been so seriously mis-advised that caused her toarticulate her hostility to the whole project leading ultimately to her famous“ no, no, no”.’
Similarly he stated: ‘If there has been a flaw in the European debate inside the BritishConservative party it is that we have allowed it to be characterised as the“little Englanders” response- in other words that we dislike the European Unionbecause “it is too foreign"".’
Dr Fox concluded by saying that:
‘We mustfree ourselves from the dogma of “ever closer union” that has been a handicap onevery government since the 1970s.’
‘It isthe British public who must be the final arbiters and their voice has beenignored for too long. Politicians of all parties must show that they are ableand willing to put the National interest ahead of narrow electoral interests.’
‘Weshould not wait for EU leaders to recognise the failure of the ill-conceivedeuro before we set out what we want for the British people.’
‘Britain’sdestiny is not a debating issue for leaders on the continent. It must be madein Britain.’
‘This isthe time for us to rise to the challenge.’
To watch Dr Fox's speech on the TaxPayers’ Alliancewebsite, please click the link below:
http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/eu/2012/07/liam-foxs-taxpayers-alliance-speech-full.html
To read the full text of the full text of Dr Fox’sspeech on the TaxPayers’ Alliance website, please click on the link below:
http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/home/2012/07/liam-fox-britain-euro-european-union-speech.html