Politics: ‘Best in Europe’ is no longer good enough

If there’s one phrase that infuriates Tory radicals more than any other, it’s ‘We’re the best in Europe at …’.

If there’s one phrase that infuriates Tory radicals more than any other, it’s ‘We’re the best in Europe at …’. The words are used among the bureaucratic establishment as an excuse for accepting the status quo. The logic is that as long as Britain is the best in Europe, then all is well. But this is emphatically not the case. Europe is a continent in decline.

According to work by the Prime Minister’s own office, it is probable that Europe will go from having four of the ten largest economies in the world today to none by the second half of this century. So if this country is to prosper in the years to come, it needs to think about how to compete with China and India, not France and Italy. Being the best in Europe will soon be the economic equivalent of being the tallest mountain in Holland.

The European frame of reference is also threatening the recovery. Thanks to the European Union’s Temporary and Agency Work Directive, by December of this year British businesses will have to give temporary and agency workers the same rights as regular employees when it comes to pay, holidays, sick pay and parental leave for mothers. This will be bad for business. When Tony Blair was Prime Minister, he was so concerned about its effect that he spent huge amounts of diplomatic capital blocking it. But the Brown government, under union pressure, signed up to the directive.

The coalition is now, sadly, preparing to implement this EU directive without any fight at all. Indeed, this Conservative-led government is making a habit of bringing into force Labour’s worst laws, such as this and the equalities act.