Well, if you don't take an interest in local affairs...

Limeypundit, among many others, brings this to my attention:

The European Commission threatened last night to block Michael Howard's programme of tough immigration controls if the Tories win the election.

Why? Because the British state has entered into agreements with other multinational organisations. No news yet on how that affects any agreement that a British government might have with the voters of Britain.

Further:

Europe's intervention in what has become a major issue in the election campaign took Westminster aback. MPs and officials were unaware of how much national sovereignty on immigration and asylum had been transferred to Brussels.

It took them aback. They were surprised.

I bet a few of them even raised an eyebrow or two.

No matter what you think of the Tory policy you have to wonder why MPs and officials were surprised and what other issues are now likely to be ‘surprisingly’ seen as EU business by EU officials? What do you mean you didn’t know? It was on display in a disused lavatory behind a sign saying “beware of the leopard”. Perhaps an enquiry would leave Westminster in a permanent state of mild astonishment.

You’d also be forgiven for wondering a little about the credibility of any of these amazed MPs and officials if they were, for instance, ever to suggest that the public need educating on the benefit of EU membership. I mean, benefit can only really be measured if all the drawbacks are also on the table. It’s a Ying Yang thing and I bet there are many more Yangs waiting to reveal themselves to our unsurprisingly unaware ‘local representatives’.

Posted by John at January 26, 2005 10:22 AM | TrackBack