Tories asked to explain “unilateral” EU stance
The Conservatives have been challenged to explain the comments of a newly-promoted member of the shadow cabinet who suggested Britain may unilaterally opt-out of EU treaties.
Denis MacShane, a Foreign Office Minister, leapt on the comments of John Redwood, saying the eurosceptic had “crossed the Rubicon” into UK Independence Party “territory” over a unilateral stance on EU treaties.
Mr MacShane said a withdrawal from any EU treaty – without the prior consent of other EU partners – would entail a significant fine from the European Court of Justice and could mean Britain being forced to quit the EU altogether.
Adoption of such a stance would do “immense damage” to British trade, jobs, travel and tourism and undermine Britain’s standing in the world as a country that “honours international treaty obligations,” Mr MacShane said.
John Redwood has said previously that the Conservatives must fight the EU constitution “root and branch, tooth and nail.”
The BBC’s Today programme on Friday read out an email from Mr Redwood, in which he explains how the Conservatives planned to win back powers from Brussels in areas such as fishing policy.
The email was quoted as saying: “We will expect to win them back by renegotiation. But if they refuse, we will amend the 1972 European Communities Act to take them back unilaterally. Easy, isn’t it? Best wishes, John Redwood.”
Graham Brady, the Conservatives’ Europe spokesman, rejected Mr MacShane’s interpretation of the email.
He urged the minister “to lie down in a darkened room for a couple of hours.”
“Conservative Party policy is clear. We don’t want to withdraw from the EU, but we are determined to reform it, to make a flexible, live and let live Europe.”
