Red Cards and Emergency Brakes.

Only the foolish would say the EU doesn’t have problems.  Everyone acknowledges that fact. But does this renegotiation solve anything?

Well, the Government’s own Office of Budget Responsibility has pointed out that the so called “emergency brake” will have no effect on immigration anyway.  Sir Stephen Nickell CBE, one of the top figures in the OBR, said the Government’s proposals would make ‘not much’ difference to immigration from the EU – and that ‘any changes to benefit rules are unlikely to have a huge impact on migration flows.’  Further, the Government’s own minimum wage policy will completely counter any tiny effect of the emergency brake.  The Government’s whole immigration policy is completely incoherent.

And the ‘red card’ plan?  It is impractical and unworkable.  The new system demands that 55% of EU Parliaments must agree before a law could be blocked.  Amazingly this is much higher than the current threshold of a third of national parliaments and will make the device wholly impractical.  As the former Foreign Secretary, William Hague, has said: ‘even if the European Commission proposed the slaughter of the first-born it would be difficult to achieve such a remarkable conjunction of parliamentary votes’.

And what of the supremacy of European Court. The renegotiation has now been dismissed by a top human rights lawyers for failing to end the supremacy of European Court.  Mr Cameron once pledged to limit the European Court’s powers and to obtain a ‘complete opt out’ from the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights which the European Court is using to take more control every week. He hasn’t.

The Prime Minister knows he has a bad deal.  Could that be why instead of talking about the renegotiation he is apparently proud of he is trying to scare you into staying in the EU.  

And using taxpayers money to do so.