There has been some three years in gestation but the results are nigh, on Britain’s “fundamental” repositioning within the European Union – the renegotiations are as good as complete. The European Council Summit has just last night concluded their debates on the UK’s plans for an (in/out) referendum, following an orchestrated theatrical display of false brinkmanship, so where are we?

Well, PM David Cameron announced from the rooftops that he had got his required deal (as we all knew he would), but it is all a ‘pig in a poke’ as the Middle Ages idiom says – a massive confidence trick, no less?

Some major Conservative players including senior Ministers (some five full Cabinet Members) like Justice Secretary Michael Grove, Work & Pensions Secretary (and ex-Tory Leader) Iain Duncan-Smith, NI Secretary Theresa Villiers, Leader of the House of Commons and the Lord President of the Council Chris Grayling, Employment minister Priti Patel, Culture Media Sport Secretary John Whittingdale, together with strong eurosceptics like the former Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox, Jacob Rees-Mogg (son of the late ex-Times editor William), Sir Bill Cash (Chair of the House of Commons’ European Scrutiny Committee), former Conservative Treasurer and banker Peter Cruddas, Owen Paterson former Environment secretary, Steve Baker chair of the Conservatives for Britain group, and even probably London Mayor Boris Johnson, will all ditch the proposed deal and fully back the OUT campaign. They will of course join forces with the likes of UKIP Leader Nigel Farage MEP, whose Party wants Britain totally out of the EU.

So without doubt there will be a major ‘now unavoidable’ split in the Conservative Party, won’t there? In the Country there will also be a fairly even but converging neck & neck split, with the latest opinion poll tracker now showing 51% against 49% favouring remaining – but this is of course while the PM has been pushing his STAY deal and well BEFORE the major OUT campaigners have been let of the leash of ‘collective responsibility’ by Cameron (and possibly twenty percent of the population have not yet made-up their minds – they are likely to be the final arbiters though, aren’t they?).

What did the Conservative Party Manifesto “commit” to the electorate for the UK’s new relationship with the EU?

 Utopia         an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect

• No to ‘ever closer union’
• No to ‘a constant flow of power to Brussels’
• No to unnecessary interference
• “Changes to welfare to cut EU migration will be an absolute requirement in the renegotiation”
• “We will insist that EU migrants who want to claim tax credits and child benefit must live here and contribute to our country for a minimum of four years”
• The Tories “want to see powers flowing away from Brussels” and end “ever closer union ambitions”],

What did Prime Minister David Cameron “promise” to the Country as the outcome of his personal renegotiation with the other EU leaders?

 Rabbit out of Hat – the classic magic hat-trick where a performer traditionally produces a rabbit out of an apparently empty top hat

What has David Cameron actually “delivered” now to europhiles, eurosceptics and undecideds, after all?

 A dead Parrot?

BUT Cameron nevertheless insists it is alive & well [untrue], is just as good as a lovely bouncy rabbit [untrue], and looks very similar to the utopia of the manifesto commitment  [untrue] – do you think perhaps he is lying?

COMMENT

The biggest laugh about all this so-called renegotiation is that Cameron’s supposed ‘deal’ has been struck with the European Council only, and has gone nowhere near yet the actual EU Parliament – so while it isn’t meaningless, it is certainly worthless, isn’t it?

The European Council [Heads of States/Governments – (Donald Tusk President)] can only ask the EU Commission to draw-up these matters as legislation, which will then have to be debated by the EU Parliament, who may amend or even reject it before it goes to the Council of EU [Government ministers] where it may be vetoed – the European Council itself has no direct say over that process whatsoever, does it?

Nevertheless, Cameron is intent on forcing the IN-OUT Referendum on the British public in June, so long before anything has been debated let alone approved by the European Union. Cameron has shown that he cannot be trusted on the EU issue and now he wants you to put your trust in the other gravy train 678 MEPs from 27 foreign lands – some with a major axe to grind in opposing the proposed watered-down changes.

Cameron won’t even get support from all the UK 73 MEPs will he? No, only 19 of them are Tories, and of the others 24 are UKIP, so they will try to scupper any such deal (however deficient), as they want Britain out of the EU, don’t they?

[Martin Schulz (German) the president of the European Parliament has publicly confirmed that they will NOT simply rubber stamp any proposed agreement over the UK’s membership arrangements].

European Union powerhouse Germany’s Angela Merkel is pretty toothless on this particular issue (she is under the cosh at home by allowing in a flood of a million immigrants , isn’t she?) and France hates us anyway (and doesn’t want UK to be protected from Euro states), while Italy is in such financial turmoil (no surprise there then?) that they have little interest in propping-up Cameron at their own expense, while Hungry & Poland & Romania & Czech Republic & Slovakia will balk at their citizens being treated as second class within Britain, won’t they?

Note that the scaremongers’ latest claim is that if we vote to leave the EU the Germans and others will ruthlessly compete against Britain’s financial institutions. So, what protection does the EU currently give us that will be removed? Er, NONE. So what difference will there be when we are outside the EU? Er, NONE – they are all doing the damndest already, aren’t they?

THE ORIGINAL PLAN (Major Elements)  Utopia                                                 Result

• Fundamental change in UK’s relationship with EU                               totally disregarded
  • Repatriation of powers to the UK                                                              zilch achieved
  • Ability of British Parliament to overrule EU legislation                 refused (has to get the support of over half the other countries)
  • UK’s right to initially withhold benefits from immigrants`                 rejected (no total ban and UK may apply only for a temporary ‘emergency brake’ reduction for new immigrants and not existing)
  • Reduction in the numbers of EU immigrants coming to UK      deemed impossible as a matter of principle so changes not even attempted
  • EU’s ‘ever closer union’ objective cut-out of Treaty                entirely shrugged-off but UK can opt out (which will be ineffective)
  • Powers to flow away from Brussels                                                  absolutely cast-away
  • Prevention of European Court overruling UK law/Supreme Court       not even submitted nor addressed

Is it not farcical when we have to witness a international negotiation between two parties that can’t actually conclude a deal? The European Council couldn’t ever bind the EU as it had no direct control over legislation, while Cameron couldn’t speak for Britain because he had already committed to a nationwide referendum making such a decision, eh?

[Go through the door that says ‘BREXIT’ if you want to live in an independent Country ever again, eh?]