Economic Policy

Part of Prayers – in the House of Commons at 6:57 pm on 24 September 1992.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Ian Paisley Ian Paisley Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party 6:57, 24 September 1992

The former Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup (Sir E. Heath), said today that politicians should be out in the country explaining things to the people. I think that the people want to ask the politicians what is happening. The treaty of Rome stated clearly that it could not be by passed or changed without all member states being unanimous. Then there was the ratification of Maastricht. Certain countries ratified it in their Parliaments. Others had to hold a referendum. Denmark said no. The strange thing is that we were told that if France said no the treaty was dead, but if certain other countries say no the treaty is, evidently, very much alive.

I was in the House when my right hon. Friend the Member for Lagan Valley (Mr. Molyneaux) asked the Prime Minister whether he was going to put pressure on Denmark. He said certainly not, but it seems now that the whole of Europe is engaged in putting pressure on those who democratically exercised their right to say no. If they were keeping their own laws, we would not have the controversy that we now have. There is a three-tier system. Some hon. Members say that Germany will go it alone, but if Germany or France or any other member state in the EC is a good member, it will stay and seek to persuade people to take the democratic way.

People ask, "Why are we always told by politicians that Europe is the answer to everything?" When he campaigned in the EC referendum in the United Kingdom the then Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup, said that unemployment problems would be solved when we entered Europe. Can any hon. Member say that they have been solved? The right hon. Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup crusaded for a Europe that is entirely different from the Europe of today. One would not recognise the Europe presented in that referendum.

The right hon. Gentleman said that the people know nothing about it and he made some disparaging remarks about the peasantry of France. I say, "Well done the peasants of France." They are entitled to say no and their votes are just as important as those of wealthy people. Is the vote to be taken away from ordinary people? I know something about Mr. Delors. He is an arrogant man. I have sat with him in committees for 12 years and I know his style. He has said that 80 per cent. of all decisions will be taken in Brussels. Nobody in this country wants Delors, and no Commission, even one containing Leon Brittan, should make decisions for this country. The people of Britain want this Parliament to take their decisions.

We are told that the people cannot be trusted. Why should not the people of this country be allowed to speak in a referendum? Hon. Members who believe in European union and one government in Europe—a single state that goes beyond federalism—should go to the country and say to people, "Do you want this?" The House decided that the people of Northern Ireland should decide their future by referendum but now we are told that referendums are undemocratic, alien and foreign. However, one is kept on the statute book for Northern Ireland and it is there because a former Prime Minister proposed it and carried it through.

We are told that Europe will solve every problem and that trouble in future can be solved by a single market. Our monetary difficulties were to be solved by entering the ERM. The leader of the Liberal Democrat party said in his speech that the answer was full steam ahead for one solid union in Europe, one parliament and one people. In the old days people used to speak about one air force, one navy and one police force. Everybody knows that if that happened there could be no withdrawal. At least we were able to get out of the ERM and float sterling, but a policy such as that proposed by the leader of the Liberal Democrats is similar to the law of the Medes and Persians and is for ever. Why should we be forced or rushed into such a decision?

The people of Europe are beginning to think again about Maastricht. I asked the French ambassador to the United Kingdom whether he thought that France was divided. He said, "Yes, my country is divided 50:50." Mr. Delors has succeeded in dividing his own country. France was the womb of the EC and supplied the grandfathers and the fathers of the Common Market. It is the Common Market establishment, and when almost 50 per cent. of its population say no surely all the other European countries should think again.

We were to have an economic debate today. We have had terrible cuts in Northern Ireland and a Scrooge policy is followed by the Northern Ireland Office. Hospitals are closing, housing estates are not being rehabilitated, jobs are being lost and unemployment is at 15 per cent. Those are the issues that worry the ordinary man in the street, and if the money that was wrongly used to try to stay in the ERM had been invested in our own country it would have made a great difference. It would have provided hospitals, houses and schools and investment in employment. The time has come for the Government to forget about the ERM and to put their house in order. They should tell us their economic policy, because I have not yet heard in the debate what they propose to do. The House has a right to demand that the Government set out their policy.