Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Is Douglas Alexander made of the right stuff when it comes to Europe?

Despite the fact that I am usually eighty miles from London, I do read the Evening Standard fairly regularly - the 18.25 service from Ipswich to Stowmarket (the 17.02 ex-Liverpool Street) is usually littered with them.

Yesterday, my eye was drawn to a piece by Douglas Alexander, calling for the City of London to take a lead in fighting for our future within the European Union. And whilst he doesn't say an awful lot about what the Labour Party will do in any future referendum campaign - presumably, if they win on 7 May, there won't be one - he is at least headed in a direction that pro-European liberals might approve.

His key paragraph is;
From day one in office, a newly elected Labour government would set about enhancing the UK’s influence in Europe and reset relations with other EU leaders after five years of Mr Cameron’s failed approach.
Alright, it is merely a less childish version of, "Yah boo, you smell and you've got no friends!", but it is better than the Conservative approach of saying, "You really need us, don't you? What's it worth?".

Naturally, one might be suspicious of Labour's commitment towards working with, and engaging fully in, the European Union, based on their performance in Government between 1997 and 2010. We'll see, I guess...

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