Do you think we will ever get a vote on the EU?

[mitsuru]

After it's been on the news and in the papers over here.
Will the vote ever happen?
What would the options be for the vote?
What would happen if we cut our ties with the European parliament?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18659072

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18663389

As different countries in the euro currency stumble with debt, can we
cut them off and finally pull up the drawbridge and repel boards?

Will we able to get rid of those who have used the European court of
human rights to stop them from being forced to leaving the UK where
they have it cushy in public or even in jail compared to the countries
they came from!

[Renrut]

No mostly because although a person can be intelligent and see reason in things, people are usually stupid and xenophobic.

The EU does a lot more for us than just make silly rulings on what classes as jam although thats usually all the papers tell us about. Something like 60% of the UKs foreign trade is with the EU, thanks to things like CE marking and other EU legal treaties. We have influence in what goes on in europe. We share a lot of common ground with Europe compared to places like Asia or the US.

Yes its a big wasteful money pit. I guess the only thing to compare it to is the US which is probably just as bad in terms of government waste. Long term I can't see individual european states having much clout internationally, compare their economic size with China, India and the US. We're little fishes in comparison. By grouping together there is strength in numbers.

The single currency was and is IMO doomed unless they can get tighter control of member country taxation and government spend. My reasoning is that unless they stop countries like Greece being very carefree with its money, countries like Germany who are very tight with it will always end up picking up the bill.

Its a bit like going out on a night with 4 of your mates. Someone pipes up that you should just have rounds as its simpler for everyone and that makes sense, 1/4 the trips to the bar etc. So you buy rounds but what happens when one person is drinking 15yr whiskey and everyone else is having the cheap pints? Everyone else is subsidising their luxury. Thats what you have with the Euro, some countries have been living it large while others have been careful. Or even if you don't have rounds and come the end of the night and its taxi time, only 2 people have any money left, the others didn't put any aside for the trip home. So do you ditch your mates or pay for their taxi home knowing they'll only go and do exactly the same thing next time?

The same thing has to be true of things like benefits, working minimum standards, legal rulings etc. It needs to become a superstate to survive in its current form. If every euro country had the same benefit system and tax system there wouldn't be so much immigration as there wouldn't be much worth leaving Eastern europe for if you just got the dole/benefits/minimum wage as someone in Leiceseter. Unfortunately I don't see some of the countries playing their parts and worse still the UK has very high living costs which would mean a short term drop in eveything is such things were stopped. And we're too late to shut the gates, they've been open too long.

We should get the opt out sorted on the human rights like several other EU countries have which means they can boot out dodgy characters without all that human rights based paper thin defence.



PS And I was being told I was on the wrong forum!

[ACE]

No, because a succession of governments have steadfastly avoided introducing anything that might be considered democratic into British politics over many decades. I see no reason why the present incumbents will deviate from this well established norm.

England has had 2 referenda...
1975 United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum (should the UK remain in the European Economic Community - we voted yes apparently)

2011 (May 5th) United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum (should the UK have proportional representation - an overwhelming 20.02% of the UK population voted no)