Europe

Conservatives want be in Europe, but not run by Europe.

We believe in an open, flexible Europe in which countries work to achieve shared goals rather than the ever greater centralisation of power in Brussels.

We also believe that in democracies nothing lasting can be built without the people's consent - and yet the British people have been denied their say on the renamed EU Constitution. If the Lisbon Treaty is not yet in force at the time of the next general election, and we win the election, a Conservative government would put the Treaty to a referendum of the British people, recommending a 'no' vote. If the British people rejected the Treaty, we would withdraw Britain's ratification of it.

But if the Treaty is in force we will be in a different situation. In our view, then, political integration would have gone too far, the Treaty would lack democratic legitimacy in this country and we would not let matters rest there.

A Conservative Government would amend the 1972 European Communities Act so that any future EU Treaty that transfers powers from the United Kingdom to the European Union would be subject to a referendum of the British people. The British people must be in charge of their future in Europe.

A Conservative Government would never join the euro. Giving up our currency would mean losing a vital tool for running the British economy in the interests of the people of Britain - and that means an unacceptable loss of the independence of this country.

The EU must adapt to the times we live in - and it should act where European countries together can achieve things they cannot do alone. So our priorities for the EU are today's challenges of global competitiveness, global warming and global poverty.
That means:

  • Ending the remaining barriers to free trade within the EU
  • Taking back control of social and employment policy so we can make our own decisions in these vital areas for Britain's prosperity and social well-being
  • Improving the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme
  • Reforming the EU's aid policy so that it is more focused on poverty reduction.

Nick Boles

07 JAN 2010

Let the voters have their say

While most people in the country have been worrying about how to get to work through the snow and ice and who's going to look after their children while their school is closed, everyone in Westminster has spent the last two days talking about the latest Labour plot to get rid of Gordon Brown.  I don't know about you but I am heartily sick of these stories.  Gordon Brown has been Prime Minister for the last two years.  The British people had no say in his election to that office.   At the very least, they deserve an opportunity to pass their own verdict on his tenure of it.  And a general election is the way to let them do it.

05 JAN 2010

My NHS, your NHS, our NHS

David Cameron has kicked off the Conservatives' campaign for change with a billboard promising cuts in the budget deficit and not the NHS.  Our opponents doubt the depth and sincerity of the Conservatives' commitment to the NHS.  But I hope that no-one will doubt David Cameron's - or mine.  David has talked of the huge debt he and his family owe the NHS for the way doctors and nurses looked after Ivan and helped make his short life a more bearable one.  What some of you may not know is that I have my own personal reason to thank the NHS.  In the spring of 2007, before I moved to Lincolnshire, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease,  a cancer of the lymph system.  Although I had private health insurance at the time, I relied on the NHS for every aspect of my treatment.  And the care I received throughout several months of chemotherapy and radiotherapy was superb.  Can the NHS be reformed and improved?  Of course it can.  But can I countenance a Britain without it?  Over my dead body.