Bring powers back from Brussels to Westminster

Under the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament has had the power of “co-decision” with the twenty-eight governments of EU member states in many policy areas.  The European Parliament has a direct say in shaping laws concerning economic governance, immigration, energy, transport,  the environment and on many other issues.

This means that the European Parliament has a real impact upon EU policies which directly affect British jobs and businesses, and some of those impacts have been very unhelpful.

Sometimes the problem has been with the European regulations themseles, but we must not underestimate the ability of British regulators to "gold plate" EU regulations when drafting the instruments which implement them in Britain, and often make matters worse.

I support the British Government’s review of the ‘balance of competences’ between our government and the EU and hope the review will recommend the repatriation of powers back to Britain.

To make sure this review succeeds, we need to build as many alliances as we can find with other member governments and in the European parliament. Legislation passing through the European Parliament must be given the most intense scrutiny possible to protect British consumers and consumers from red tape, excessive regulations and stealth taxes.

I don't want the EU taking decisions which would be better taken in national governments such as Westminster: I don't want Westminster taking decisions which would be better devolved to locally elected councils: and I don't want Brussels, Westminister or the council taking decisions which would better be left to the individual family, business, school or hospital.

An example would be that Brussels recently involved itself in local speed limits. As Conservative MEP Jackie Foster pointed out at the time, this was ridiculous. Whether to have a local speed limit of, say, 20 mph in a particular village should not be a decision for Whitehall or Westminster, never mind Brussels, but should be a matter for the local highways authority after discussion with local people and their representatives at parish level.

For every decision taken in Brussels or Strasbourg, we should ask, would this be better done at a more local level?