Since I was elected to Parliament in 2010, I have taken every opportunity to push back against the EU’s move towards ever closer union. I have also been a long-time supporter of offering the people a say on our membership of the EU and was delighted when the Prime Minister led the way in pledging to hold that referendum after renegotiation before 2017. I am proud to be a member of the only party offering that choice.
Now that the Prime Minister has taken the bold step of pledging a referendum, he must be no less ambitious in the renegotiation he seeks.
When we talk about our membership of the EU, we hear from the usual suspects who have dominated the discussion for so long: corporate big business and professional lobbyists. These voices have pushed the debate to its most extreme corners: In at all costs or Out no matter what. But the silent majority in this country want to focus on getting the right balance in between those extremes, and there are a host of voices across a number of under-represented sectors who back this approach to our membership.
As a lifelong motorcyclist, I am delighted that the Bikers for Britain campaign has launched today to focus the spotlight on an area of that has been significantly affected by our EU membership.
A third of bikers polled by Bikers for Britain believe that ‘all legal threats to biking’ now come from the EU. The EU insists on a common tiered licencing and testing system for motorcyclists, which forces bikers to take multiple expensive tests and denies those under the age of 24 access to powerful motorbikes. I have long argued that harmonising regulation of this industry across Europe has brought far more costs than benefits. Interestingly, half of those polled hadn’t even used their bike in another EU member state and less than five per cent do it with any frequency (once a year or more); a notable statistic given Brussels’ trumpeting motorcycling mobility across Europe as an advantage to its legislation.
The EU’s meddlesome bureaucracy should be encouraging this mode of transport, not chipping away at the freedom of motorcyclists, because it reduces congestion and pollutes the environment far less than auto vehicles. Though a majority of bikers would chose to leave the EU now, it is telling that more would vote to remain if a new relationship with the EU could be struck which produced terms ‘favourable to motorcyclists’. There are more than a million active motorcyclists in Britain and it is time that politicians started to take their concerns seriously. With more than a quarter of those surveyed saying that the EUs attitude to biking will affect how they vote in any referendum, the stakes couldn’t be higher for the Prime Minister. Renegotiate a good deal for everyone and we all go home happy; fail to get a comprehensive new settlement and see the chances of Britain voting to leave increase substantially.
Judging the success of any renegotiation and approaching the broader EU debate must be done through the prism of many different stakeholders – not just a few niche interests. I am pleased to make the case for motorcyclists.
Mike Weatherley MP is the Conservative MP for Hove and a lifelong motorcyclist
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