BRITAIN SHOULD STAY AND FIGHT FOR A BETTER EUROPE

''Is Britain in danger of making itself a laughing stock on the international stage by kicking so vigorously against some of the iniquities of the European Union? This was certainly the implication of the Obama administration’s impertinent intervention in Britain’s ever more fractious relationship with Europe.

The UK is not about to roll over and let its tummy be tickled on this issue, and if that’s what the land of the free is saying it ought to do, then it should be politely ignored. Britain is not yet the 51st state, and its European affairs are nobody’s business but its own. America seems to be suffering from the same sort of democratic deficit as the EU’s political elites in thinking that we should compromise our freedoms for the sake of US foreign policy goals.

As one of Europe’s three biggest economies, a huge export market for European goods and, in absolute terms, one of the four largest net contributors to the EU budget, Britain enjoys a negotiating position that is actually much stronger than it appears. They need us more than we need them, and it would certainly be most unfortunate if the union were to gain Croatia as a member only to lose the UK. As Mrs Thatcher demonstrated, it is possible to get your way in Europe, but it requires conviction and firm leadership.'' 
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