Major Uk Parties Agree More over Europe Than They Disagree free essay sample

In this essay I will analyse the policies and actions of the major UK parties that concern the EU and be able to conclude to what extent they agree over Europe. The most obvious example of agreement between the three major UK parties is that they all favour UK membership of the EU, and none of them have expressed interest in entirely leaving Europe. They are all committed to the European Single Market, as by standardising national regulations, the single market makes it easier to do business in the EU and contributes to faster economic growth. They are also in favour of a single market as it would increase competition within the EU leading to lower prices for consumers, and economic ties will help contribute towards European stability, which will reduce the chance of conflict between European states. Another agreement between the major parties is that none of them currently support joining the euro, and have no plans to join the Eurozone in the future. We will write a custom essay sample on Major Uk Parties Agree More over Europe Than They Disagree or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Despite Tony Blair supporting the UK joining the Eurozone whilst PM, Gordon Brown’s five economic tests prevented the UK from adopting the currency. When he took over the role of PM, Brown ruled out membership of the euro for the lifetime of his parliament. Once Labour was voted out of power and Ed Miliband took over as leader, Labour still pledged to keep the pound, with Miliband saying Britains not going to be joining the euro, it wont be joining the euro if Im Prime Minister, meaning Labour has no plans to join the euro for the foreseeable future. Like Labour, the Liberal Democrats have, in the past, been in favour of joining the euro. However, since joining the coalition and the events of the Eurozone crisis, the Lib Dems have also changed their position, saying that they have no plans to join the euro. The Conservatives, on the other hand, have been against joining the Eurozone ever since negotiating an opt-out from the part of the Maastricht Treaty that would have required the UK to adopt the euro. They remain against the joining the euro, with David Cameron saying in his recent speech on Europe that â€Å"Britain is not in the single currency, and were not going to be†. One common criticism of the EU by all three major parties has been the lack of democracy within the EU institutions. Even the pro-European Liberal Democrats have said that the certain parts of the EU need to be reformed. One of the main reforms supported by the major parties is the reform of the EU budget to get better value for money, as they believe that the UK pays too much into the budget and does not get as much out of it as it pays in. A policy that the all parties wish to reform is the Common Agricultural Policy. The CAP takes up 32% of the EU’s budget, but only supports a small minority of EU businesses. They believe that the CAP makes food more expensive in the EU than it needs to be, and that it increases poverty in poor countries by competing unfairly with local farmers. The major parties also support reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, with all three voting in favour of reform of the CFP in the European Parliament in February 2013. The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives both wish to get rid of the Strasbourg Parliament, as it â€Å"costs taxpayers across Europe â‚ ¬457m and sits unused for more than 300 days of the year†. A recent example of the main parties disagreeing over Europe comes with the Conservatives’ pledge to have a referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU if re-elected at the next general election. In his recent speech on Europe that revealed his plans for a referendum, Cameron said that the main reason behind his decision was that euro-sceptics have argued that Britain only ever signed up to a common market, not the EU as it is today. By offering an in-out referendum he hopes to confront this argument made by euro-sceptics and to be able to follow Britain’s best interests with regards to Europe. Labour, however, has no plans to hold a referendum on EU membership on the terms proposed by Cameron. It could be argued, however, that Cameron has only pledged a referendum for electoral reasons – a way of winning back support of euro-sceptics that the Conservatives have lost to UKIP, rather than the referendum being in his best interests. Another disagreement over Europe that again has Labour and the Lib Dems against the Conservatives is the ratification of the Lisbon treaty. The Labour government, who were in power at the time, ratified the treaty by parliamentary process, without the use of a referendum. The Conservatives were against the ratification of the treaty, with Cameron saying that it was â€Å"effectively a constitution for Europe†. As they were not in power at the time, they couldn’t stop Labour from ratifying the treaty so instead Cameron proposed a referendum on the treaty that would take place if he got into power. However, two years after making this promise, he declared that the party’s campaign to hold a referendum was over, saying that it would be impossible for the referendum to go ahead as all 27 member states had ratified the treaty. He blamed Labour for this, saying that they should never have ratified the treaty in the first place. Despite this U-turn on the referendum, it is still clear to see that Labour and the Conservatives have opposite views on the Lisbon treaty. An idea supported by the Conservatives but opposed by Labour and the Lib Dems is the principle of a ‘two-speed’ Europe. The Conservatives are for having a ‘two-speed’ Europe as it will mean that Britain will not have to integrate further into the EU, and it will help protect national sovereignty as it will allow them to negotiate further opt-outs. Labour and the Liberal Democrats are against this idea, as it would create barriers within Europe that may expose weaknesses and result in the ‘breaking up’ of the EU. They also argue that a ‘two-speed’ Europe would give too much power to France and Germany, therefore taking it away from other member states including Britain. In conclusion, it is clear to see that, in general, the major UK parties agree more over Europe than they disagree. They all believe that being in the EU brings many benefits to Britain, and have no plans of leaving. All three major parties support the European Single Market as they believe it leads to economic growth and, despite disagreements in the past, currently have no plans to adopt the euro and do not intend to in the near future. Where there are disagreements between parties, Labour and the Liberal Democrats often take one side, with the Conservatives taking the other. These disagreements to be expected as the Conservatives, despite being in favour of UK membership of the EU, are traditionally more euro-sceptic than the other two parties, and so will not agree with everything that Labour and the Liberal Democrats propose, in the same way that Labour and the Lib Dems will not always agree with Conservative policies.