As was reported over the weekend, we at the TaxPayers’ Alliance have teamed up with Global Vision to launch a new, joint campaign on the EU. Given that the issue of Britain’s relationship with the EU has been fought over so many times in the past, what – CoffeeHousers might be justified in asking – is new with this effort?
The campaign, which will run up to the European Elections in June, will make a conscious break from the issues and language of Eurosceptic campaigns of the past. All the evidence points to the fact that no matter how accurate the sceptical voices of the last 40 years have been, their talk of vetoes, pillars and the acquis communautaire simply does not have strong enough traction with the general public.
Interestingly, whilst the line, verse and philosophy of Britain’s legal relationship with the EU fail to move people, the practical implications of these constitutional issues very much do. Whilst the EU as an issue per se languishes towards the bottom of any poll of the public’s top concerns, the work done in Brussels has a direct impact on many of those more concrete issues further up the list.
Be it bin collections, post offices, law and order, food prices, the economy, migration, provision of schools and hospitals or a host of other things, the EU has a real world impact on day-to-day lives. Particularly with a recession taking hold, we cannot afford to carry unnecessary burdens, and the EU imposes more than its fair share. To that end, the TPA and GV will be publishing regular research papers in the coming months demonstrating how the EU has a direct impact on the money in your pocket, the bin on your doorstep, the police on your street and the food in your shopping basket. As Iain Martin said in the Sunday Telegraph, this is “credit crunch Euroscepticism”.
For too long, the EU debate has been bookish, concerned more with legalese, historic gripes and philosophical mores. Although necessary and effective in the right fight, things have moved on, the landscape has changed and the time has come for sceptics to update their tactics and to become more direct.
Is it any wonder that, with pro and sceptical elements talking more to each other than to the wider populace, our polling reveals that 45% of the public feel that none of the major parties represent their concerns on the matter, while only 29% can find any main party to represent their view?
Over the next few months we will take the hard-hitting tactics used to great effect to expose the quangos, wasteful spending, excessive remuneration and misguided policies of the domestic British state and focus them on the European Union. Allied with a series of stunts and other attention-grabbing techniques, we intend to take the debate out of the talking shop and onto the high street.
Mark Wallace is Campaigns Director for the Taxpayers’ Alliance
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