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Sunday, 25 May, 2008 
On Saturday night I sat with my beloved and watched the Eurovision Song Contest. Not through choice you understand, but Saturday evening I promise myself I won’t do any work and, as we have only one TV set in the house, I had little choice. Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it I have not sat through this Euro-spectacle before but was pleasantly surprised by some of the songs, bemused that most were sung in English and frankly scared by Spain’s entry What struck me though was how political it all is. This may be no shock to seasoned viewers but I very much got the impression that Europe does not see itself as a united entity, but as a series of immediate neighbours who will look out for each other I have no particular issue with such an approach but for Britain, stuck in the sea on the outskirts, it would be fair to say we seem a bit isolated. Andy Abrahams performed our song which seemed pretty good and easily up to the standard of most others, but this didn’t stop us coming last So is Eurovision a window into how we view Europe and Europe views us? Are we an irrelevance, stuck on the side of Europe when it comes to politics, funding this European project but being left behind? People who know me well will tell you I’m no fan of the Europe we have. I’m quite happy to categorise myself European, but this comes a few steps after categorising myself British, then English, then a Yorkshire-man and then a few other things The argument by many is that European integration is a given. It’s inevitable. It cannot be knocked off course. I beg to differ. I think there is a growing resentment at the way things work and not just in the UK. Anyone who’s ever owned a “one size fits all” T-shirt generally knows the only person it fits is usually the most bloated. And so in Europe our distant leaders try to apply one size fits all policies that don’t suit the once-economically-lithe UK, just those countries with their snouts in the trough There have long been talks about universal tax rates across Europe and this is coming next. These would, of course, have to be set at the highest rate found in any European country for each tax so as to be ‘affordable’ for that country’s government. This would kill the UK. Tax levels are one of the few controls we have left and we’re already incredibly heavily taxed I cannot foresee Britain ever being at the heart of Europe and leading the way. With each treaty/constitution we become increasingly powerless to refuse legislation foisted upon us so surely now is the time to say enough is enough and negotiate a new deal with Europe. We might even like to look at a ‘Europe-lite’ deal such as joining the European Free Trade Association (current members Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein) The European big players may not be keen on us doing this but what will they do? If they dared to refuse to trade with the UK every factory in Germany and France would understand very quickly how much they export to the UK. We have a large trade deficit with Europe meaning they rely on us more than we on them (£105.8billion deficit in 2005) And the down sides? Well, we may always get awarded ‘nul points’ in Eurovision forever more, but we will control our own laws, our own borders and rule ourselves once more. Many of you reading this may say it’s impossible. I say we have no choice and we must start acting now Cllr Matthew Lobley Roundhay Ward Conservative Councillor
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