According to the Telegraph, the Tories will be unable to withdraw from the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees -- a key plank of the policy to regain control of Britain's borders which it announced yesterday, and on which I wrote approvingly (see Articles) -- because the EU will block it. It appears that the government signed away its power to do so in a 'qualifications directive' last year. But no-one else seemed to know about this:

'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.The Conservative leadership responded by saying that a Tory government would immediately opt out of the new rules. If that were blocked, it would insist on renegotiation to allow Britain to determine its own asylum and immigration policies.'

The fact is that a vast number of the UK's powers have now been signed away to the EU. Britain is barely qualified to call itself a sovereign country any more. Forget all this talk of renogiating bits of the treaties. Even without the EU constitution, membership of the EU is destroying Britain as a self-governing nation. Michael Howard should now go for broke and announce that the Tories will take Britain out of the EU.

Posted by melanie at January 25, 2005