tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732407426313451205.post6357107218860345679..comments2024-03-08T15:43:20.236+00:00Comments on Keynesian Liberal: Pro EuropePeter Wrigleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16481117156930677255noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732407426313451205.post-60377086110492844342011-01-07T10:47:26.939+00:002011-01-07T10:47:26.939+00:00Salut Chris,
Hope you enjoyed your Christmas brea...Salut Chris,<br /><br />Hope you enjoyed your Christmas break.<br /><br />As John Donne so aptly put it: "No man is an island entire of itself;" and that applies to countries, even if they are islands. We live in an international community and every time we sign a treaty or join an international organisation such as the UN or the WTO we limit our own freedom of action, ie our sovereignty. <br /><br />If my reading of the British Constiution is still correct, even parliamentary approval is not needed for international treaties, and that is wrong. I think Gordon Brown changed things so that parliamentary approval is required before we go to war, so even that is quite a recent, though very welcome development. To go further and ask for a referendum on every foreign treaty is going much too far. Ours is a representative democracy and what we need to do is reform the system by why our representatives hold our governments to account (and, for course, reform our electoral system so that our representatives become more representative!)Peter Wrigleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16481117156930677255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732407426313451205.post-32435726012234107402010-12-31T22:48:22.971+00:002010-12-31T22:48:22.971+00:00Hi Mr W, just dropping in briefly after a spell aw...Hi Mr W, just dropping in briefly after a spell away for Christmas!<br /><br />Surely whatever your views in the European Union (and I'm very firmly in the anti-EU camp, for reasons of full disclosure!) we ought to have a safeguard on elected representatives giving away our sovereign legislative powers, when they are not theirs to give away? I'm fine with Parliament using its loaned sovereign powers to enact any legislation it wants; but if it wants licence to hand those powers over to another entity, I think it ought to ask if we're okay with that.Chris Waleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16024405242142893470noreply@blogger.com