In vetoing changes to the EU, the Prime Minister has torpedoed the UK’s relationship with Europe. And he has done it to protect the City of London from the kind of sensible regulation that would have prevented the global financial crisis.
Don’t be led astray by the bulldog-breed guff from Eurosceptics. This is not about protecting Britain’s interests. It’s about shielding the institutions of the Square Mile from scrutiny.
The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, made this clear: "We consider … that a very large and substantial amount of the problems we are facing around the world are a result of lack of regulation of financial services and therefore can't have a waiver for the United Kingdom,"
Alex Salmond’s “arc of prosperity” has often been mocked since the financial crisis broke. Well, thanks to David Cameron, the UK is now part of a “hypotenuse of irrelevance” along with the only other country to veto the proposed treaty changes, Hungary.
Beyond the familiar vista of little Englander Conservatives warring over Europe, there are real implications here for Scotland’s relationship with the continent.
It has long been claimed that an independent Scotland would be somehow kicked out of the EU, with a stramash about exactly what the legal position of the country would be. This misses the point. Whether or not an independent Scotland remains in the EU or not will be a political decision much more than a legal one. That choice will be made by governments and governments are run by politicians, not lawyers.
In their zeal to protect Mammon, Cameron et al have jeopardised Europe’s attempts at weathering the global financial storm. The Eurosceptic government in Westminster is dragging the UK down a path that could lead to the UK leaving the EU. At this rate, Scotland may find itself outside of Europe even if it remains within the Union.
That would be disastrous for our country, which has always shown itself to be more politically pro-Europe than England. One reason for this might be that Westminster politicians are terrified of being ruled by an arcane bureaucracy hundreds of miles away that does not understand or care about solving their problems. Scots are used to that.
In light of that, can anyone seriously believe that the EU would kick out six million citizens for exercising self-determination? Would Ireland vote to expel an independent Scotland? Would Denmark, Holland, Belgium - or the countries that rediscovered their national identities after the fall of the Berlin Wall? Would France and Germany glance askance at our distancing ourselves from Westminster after what has been wrought by the ConDems?
Another myth has been torpedoed today: the idea that small, independent Scotland would be an irrelevance at the European table without the weight of Westminster behind us. After what has happened, the First Minister could dress up as one of Santa’s elves, clamber into a rowing boat, anchor himself in the middle of the Atlantic and still have more political influence in Europe than the Prime Minister does this morning.
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