I’ve served as the MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton for the past 18 years and during that time I’ve voted on thousands of important decisions. For me, two stand out as having far-reaching importance. The first was my vote to give the British people a say on whether our country should remain in the European Union, through a referendum. The second was my decision to support and vote for David Cameron as leader of the Conservative Party. He has modernised the Party, making it electable once more and ensuring that Labour, with its economy-damaging policies no longer runs Britain. In its place we have competent government that has transformed the British economy and which is reforming our public services.
As a Eurosceptic, who has been deeply concerned about the encroachment of the institutions of the European Union over Britain's sovereignty for many years, I have obviously followed very closely, and supported, the Prime Minister's renegotiation of our relationship with the EU. I believe that he chose to concentrate on the right issues as the basis for a new settlement: economic governance (ensuring that Eurozone members cannot impose their will on non-Euro members), competitiveness (reducing undue regulation and extending the single market), immigration (restricting access to benefits for EU migrants) and sovereignty (reaching explicit agreement that Britain is not committed to “ever closer union”).
I therefore welcome the deal that David Cameron has secured and, in particular, the clear statement that the UK “is not committed to further political integration into the European Union” and that this will be written into the EU’s Treaties. It is also important to have secured agreement that references to “ever closer union” in the Treaties do “not offer a legal basis for extending the scope of any provision of the Treaties or of EU secondary legislation”.
Taken together with legislation passed in the last Parliament requiring a referendum of the British people in the event of any new treaties transferring further powers to the European Union, the agreement protects the UK from a process of further political integration that would have been damaging on a range of important policy areas and would have undermined the faith people would have that our democratic institutions were properly representing their interests and beliefs.
The question I have been struggling with is, “is this enough?” I have no doubt that Britain’s economy would prosper outside the European Union. But do the protections David Cameron has secured for non-Eurozone economies, the commitment to fully complete the internal market, the centrality of competitiveness to the success of EU economies and the promise of further deregulation mean that the UK economy can prosper in a reformed European Union?
Although the agreement does not deliver the slimmed down, trade-focused, modern, responsive body that I believe the EU will have to become if it is to remain relevant in the rest of this century, the Prime Minister has negotiated a better deal than many had believed possible and the enormous challenges he encountered in doing so illustrate the difficulty of renegotiating our trading position with the EU were we to leave. The idea that we could leave the EU and quickly agree a new trade deal is, I believe, wrong. Of course trade would not stop overnight, but agreeing a deal that would give businesses certainty would take time - negotiations over a comprehensive trade deal with Canada, for example, started in 2009 and are still continuing.
The uncertainty of our position if we were to say No to continued membership in June, at a time when the world’s economies remain extremely fragile and the West faces threats from ISIS/Daesh and a belligerent Russia, gives me real pause for thought. Hearing the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary talk about the importance of European co-operation in maintaining our security, and the vital co-ordinated action against terrorism that the EU’s political structures deliver, give me further reason to doubt whether now is the time for the UK to leave the EU.
At the General Election in 2015 we promised to hold a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU, once the renegotiation had been completed. That promise is being delivered. The vote will take place on Thursday 23 June. The decision, therefore, about whether or not this country should remain in the EU rests not with politicians but with the electorate.
My vote is no more important than anyone else’s in this referendum. In my judgement, Friday night’s agreement is a significant step in the right direction. The EU needs more reform but, after considerable thought and heart searching, I have come to the conclusion that the right thing to do is to support the Prime Minister. He has been an outstanding leader of our country and is presiding over the transformation of the economy and our public services. He is a good man and has negotiated a good deal. We should trust his judgement.