Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Why it is not healthy for democracy to have Brussels fix the NHS

This business with the EU and the NHS has been very disorientating. My conscience is pricked by MatthewT, who commented on my previous post:

“So you guys are against the EU interfering with UK policies except where you agree with their impact. I didn’t realise Euroscepticism was so nuanced.”

Well, m’lud, guilty. My side has failed to make the argument for NHS liberalisation in Britain (and has even failed to convince the Tories) but today I have an option. Why not become all pro-European, and have it forced on Britain by Brussels?
 
This is what the EU is all about: circumventing democratic debate. Most of the time, it does so for the left – and Labour sees it as a force to shift Britain’s political centre of gravity leftwards, bringing this country into the orbit of the Euro galaxy. So while I applaud the EU on this occasion I should – really – deplore it trying to do by force what people like me have been unable to do by argument.
 
Not that it will succeed anyway. The EU is very good at forcing regulation, and very bad at forcing liberalisation (services, energy). But today was just a reminder why there could ever have been photographs taken like the one at the top of this blog.
 
PS No one can accuse OpenEurope of inconsistency. Their take on it here.

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