Summer Adjournment

Heidi Alexander Excerpts

Thursday 18th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

The end-of-term Adjournment debate is normally used by Members to raise matters of constituency interest or to highlight particular campaigns, but I would like to do something slightly different today. I want to talk about the European Union (Referendum) Bill. Two weeks ago, when the House debated the Bill’s Second Reading, I wished to speak but, as hon. Members will know, the debate was somewhat oversubscribed. I shall therefore outline my views on the Bill today, and set out my reasons for abstaining in the vote two weeks ago.

I remain to be convinced that there is a desperate clamour for a referendum on Europe, either in my constituency or in the country as a whole. Since I was elected in 2010, 20 of my constituents have e-mailed me to say that they want a referendum. During that same period, more than 1,000 people have contacted me about the NHS and more than 50,000 people signed my petition against changes at Lewisham hospital. My constituents are not generally shy about telling me what they think. They tell me how tough it is to find work, how they are struggling because their tax credits are being cut, and how they cannot afford their rent, let alone a mortgage. I do not dispute that our membership of the European Union is an issue for some people—I suspect, incidentally, that there is some geographical variation in the levels of concern—but I really question whether the time being spent on the issue in Westminster is proportionate to the scale of interest and concern that exists in the country as a whole.

We now have a Bill going through the House that would commit us to having a referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU in four years’ time. I am not a particular fan of referendums—I think that the majority of people who vote actually elect politicians to do a job and want us to get on with it—but I am not opposed in principle to the idea of a referendum on Europe. But to legislate now for a referendum in four years’ time just seems like a huge leap in the dark when we do not know what changes to our relationship with Europe will have been sought or agreed.

If I were a business owner looking for a European base or seeking to expand my European operation, the idea that the UK might not be in the EU in four years’ time would surely make my search for a regional hub or headquarters much easier. Why set up shop in a country that might have cut its ties with the world’s largest single trading bloc, four years down the line? Legislating now for a referendum in 2017 will create huge economic uncertainty, which this country could well live without.

We also have to be clear that the majority of those who have led the campaign for an EU referendum want to take us out of Europe. That is not true for everyone, but it is the overriding motive of most referendum proponents. I, for one, do not want to associate myself with such a cause. I believe that the UK has to be at the heart of Europe, leading it, reforming it and making it work for the 21st century. The European Union is far from perfect. We need to tackle the waste and bureaucracy, and it needs greater democratic accountability. We can all point to x regulation or y regulation that we might want to see changed, but in my view, the overall economic and social benefit to our country that results from our membership of the EU outweighs those negatives.

Some of those who advance the case for withdrawal seem to think that, if we left, we would automatically get all the gain but none of the pain. I do not think that that is true. We would have to pay billions to access the free market, yet we would have no say over the rules that govern it. As much as we might want to strike free trade deals with the big global economies, their priority surely would still be the EU and not an isolated UK. And what of our bargaining power? Do we honestly think that by going it alone we would carry the same weight in negotiations and be able to strike the same deals in the interests of the British economy?

I was just one year old when the last referendum on Europe took place. I recently asked my dad whether he had voted. I had never spoken to him about it before—as in many families up and down the country, Europe was not the usual topic of conversation at the dinner table—but he told me that he had voted yes. I asked him what he made of the current debate on Europe. His response was, “It’s a bit like a football match, Heidi. You can’t hope to influence the outcome simply by shouting from the sidelines.” The Prime Minister’s European game plan is not just about hollering from the sidelines because half his side really want to play for a different team. To cap it all, half of them have already admitted defeat before the first whistle has even been blown.

The world has moved on since the last referendum on Europe. Thankfully, it has moved on, too, since my grandfather and my husband’s grandfather found themselves on opposing sides in the second world war. I believe that the case for being part of Europe is stronger now than it was in either 1945 or 1975. In an increasingly complex world where big challenges cross international borders and where enormous multinational companies have greater financial powers than many countries, we need governance structures that exist above the nation state to discuss the problems, explore solutions and build consensus. That is not to say that we should be subordinate to such structures—far from it—but the UK has to be part of the dialogue.

The truth is that the real reason for the European Union (Referendum) Bill is UKIP. UKIP’s rise is as much about people’s disillusionment with politics as it is about our membership of the EU. It is about immigration, welfare, fierce competition for scarce jobs and the lack of genuinely affordable housing. At its heart, it is about the public looking at their politicians and seeing, by and large, a bunch of people who all look the same and sound the same—but do not look and sound like them. It is easy for UKIP—a party that has just one all too notable face and seemingly no internal dialogue or debate. All UKIP politicians do is say the populist thing, take the TV cameras to the pub with them and convince people that they are more like them than the bunch of suits in Westminster.

The European Union (Referendum) Bill says more about the fears and obsessions of the Conservative party than it does about the hopes and aspirations of our country. It is a potentially dangerous distraction from the issues that really matter to people and to our country’s future. That is why I did not support it two weeks ago and why I wanted to put my views on the record today.

In the 30 seconds remaining, I would simply like to wish you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and all the staff of the House of Commons a very happy summer recess.

--- Later in debate ---

[Tom Brake]

I must say that when I ask people in my constituency what issues concern them most, health is often the number one issue, and Europe features rather low on the list of priorities. The main issues seem to be health and jobs.

[Heidi Alexander]

One of the right hon. Gentleman’s Back-Bench colleagues has just suggested that the fact that 50,000 people signed my petition about Lewisham hospital was all to do with 38 Degrees. I can assure him that that was not the case. In fact, hundreds of people were in Lewisham town centre collecting signatures.

[Tom Brake]

The hon. Lady has put her clarification on record.

I heard Members behind me expressing surprise that Europe was not a big issue. I can only say that consistently, year after year, when I ask people what issue is most important to them, they reply that it is health, education or law and order. It is not Europe. I think we had better leave it at that.

As the hon. Lady will know, the European Union (Referendum) Bill is currently being debated, and will return to the House in September. I do not know whether she is a member of the Bill Committee, or indeed whether she would wish to be a member of it, given that its sittings seem to be finishing quite late and may continue to do so. She said that there was scope for reform of the European Union, and I accept that. I think there is agreement among Members on both sides of the House that the EU can and should be reformed. The justice and home affairs opt-outs, for instance, are part of the process. That reform may well deliver some changes which I think would be supported by Members in all parts of the House.