Thought for the day: The Baby is born. June 12th. By Greg Hands MP

The EU Constitution is back in all but name

Last month, I was in the audience for a speech in Potsdam by Angela Merkel’s right hand man, Thomas de Maiziere, the Chief of the Chancellor’s Office and Federal Minister of Special Affairs.

De Maiziere was applauding the content of the EU Constitution, whilst criticising moves made more than two years ago to call it a constitution. “You don’t name the baby until after it’s born,” he said to laughter from most of those assembled, but to consternation from me and a few others present. The implication was clear – the baby was a great thing, but shouldn’t have been called “constitution” until after it had been ratified.

Two weeks ago, the German Government issued a press release after meeting with heads of government of Sweden, Ireland and Belgium, making clear that they wanted the existing treaty, despite that fact it was rejected by French and Dutch voters just two years ago – “the substance of the existing treaty should be retained,” the Germans are saying. It seems that the Germans have persuaded the Poles and the Czechs to drop most of their objections, in return for the EU adopting a tougher stance against Russia, most notably at the recent EU-Russia summit in Samarra.

Whilst Angela Merkel has been rallying support and talking with her counterparts, our own Government has been dithering. The handover from Blair to Brown could hardly have come at a worse time. Britain is losing the allies we should have had – Sweden, the Czech Republic, Poland, and so on – because our Government is paralysed, and has been too busy on legacy tours or taking part in fake hustings events for the Labour Party.

The Government has been incredibly evasive. Last week my colleague Bill Cash asked Margaret Beckett to finally come clean on what discussions she had had with Blair and Brown on the Constitution. Her reply was brief, even by new Labour standards: “All these issues are discussed among all members of the Government at all times”.The Prime Minister said after the French and Dutch votes that

“what you can’t do is have a situation where you get a rejection of the treaty and then you just bring it back with a few amendments and say we will have another go”?

Yet this appears to be exactly what is in store under Gordon Brown. David Cameron meanwhile has been firm in his commitment to having a referendum before any treaty is signed under whatever name which transfers more powers to Brussels.

This is likely to be at the centre of politics in the coming week, and will help define how the Cameron v Brown contest will shape up. Let us hope that David Cameron will win, and we will have a referendum on the EU Constitution, even if the baby hasn’t yet been given the name.

Greg Hands is MP for Hammersmith & Fulham

Thought for the day – May 18th

This is purely my personal opinion. There is no corporate Cornerstone view 

Three issues feature today, all of which are key concerns for Cornerstone members.

1) Education: the continuing backlash over David Willetts’ speech. Cornerstone member Nadine Dorries (a member of the Party’s Public Services Improvement Policy Group) says: “We have spent months working on education, so why didn’t they wait until the policy group had presented its findings? Why did David bypass the parliamentary party and announce our policy to the CBI?” I couldn’t agree with her more. “They’re wrong”, she told the Daily Telegraph [Jonathan Isaby’s ‘Spy column’, p 6 today], “if they intend running the Conservative Party like Tony Blair ran the Labour Party.” Right again.

Just in case there was any lingering doubt about the advisability of the new approach, the Telegraph also reports today [p 6] that only 19% of “all those questioned” in a Yougov poll – including non-Conservative voters – are in favour of the system proposed by David Willetts (a mix of comprehensives and City Academies). And only 13 per cent of our voters back the idea.

But, as I have said before, the way this debate is being presented is false. The leadership must not caricature the Right as simply saying “Bring back grammar schools”. Those who share my views know that while grammars do help some poor children – and just because you do not qualify for free school meals does not make you stinking rich – they are only part of the answer. There are many other up-to-date ideas for helping children escape the ghetto of low-quality education. Vouchers are part of the picture as well. It is not the Right that is stuck in the past; by seeming to endorse the comprehensive principle, I fear the Party is embracing out-dated ideas which have now had their day.

Can anyone explain the thinking behind the Willetts speech? As Churchill once said of Russia “It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”.

2) Abortion: Ann Winterton will introduce a Private Member’s Bill on June 5 which seeks to require both counselling for pregnant women considering abortion and a week’s ‘cooling-off’ period afterwards. [Catholic Herald, p. 2 today’s issue]. As she says “It is really important that people are not bounced into having an abortion because they are in a state of panic without considering alternatives and without alerting them to possible consequences to their physical and mental health. The alternative is that they can choose to have their babies. There are organisations”, she says, “which will provide support in every single way, including financial support…” Ann hopes that her bill will be the first stage in restricting the 1967 Abortion Act, which in practice allows abortion on demand in the first 24 weeks.The Bill would make doctors specify on notification forms whether an abortion had been permitted either on mental or physical grounds, instead of the ‘and/or’ approach now current. This would, according to pro-life groups, prevent ‘social’ abortions.

Ann points to a study in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry showing that previously mentally healthy women had a far higher risk of developing psychiatric illness after abortion than those not aborting.

I would certainly be minded to back her Bill, and would urge colleagues to give it serious consideration.

3) Europe: Blair has given Brown joint responsibility for government strategy on a revised EU Constitution. See the Telegraph [p5], which calls this a sign of “dual premiership”. Tactics are being devised in preparation for the summit of EU leaders in June.

Perhaps Brown’s – relative – Euroscepticism when compared to Blair is at least one crumb of comfort we can take from his now assured succession. But I hope that next year when we fulfil our pledge to withdraw from collaboration with the EPP we will signal a distinctive approach that will show who the real Eurosceptics are.

David Cameron has already offended Angela Merkel over this issue. I applaud him warmly for doing so. Blair has shown quite enough contempt for parliament already; now let us restore some respect to it.

Edward Leigh is Co-Chairman of The Cornerstone Group