Regular readers to this blog have probably realised by now that Nick Clegg is not my favourite politician. I'm probably not the only one who espouses this sentiment, for he says such stupid things that it is actually quite worrying to think that this silly man is our Deputy Prime Minister and actually represents our country on occasions.
If he wants to parade his stupidity, his favourite topic is the EU. He has parroted ad nauseam the myth that three million jobs would be lost if we left the EU. Well, were these three million jobs created by joining the EU? If he bothered to check the UK employment statistics, he would have found that in the first 10 years following our accession to the EEC (as it then was), the number of people in employment actually FELL. Since the Great Recession, UK-born male employment has failed to reach its pre-2008 levels, whereas foreign-born employment, including that of Eastern Europeans has increased. Sorry, Mr Clegg, but the EU has actually destroyed jobs for British-born workers. Leave the EU and the Single Market with its free movement of people, replace our membership with a simple free trade agreement and we could send home most of the Eastern Europeans and CREATE jobs for the people of this country.
However, he continues to drone on, insisting in his most recent speech that leaving the EU would be "economic suicide." I wonder if he has received his copy of the latest "How much does the European Union Cost Britain" booklet by Professor Tim Congdon it is meticulously researched, looking at direct costs, costs of regulation, costs of resource misallocation and so on. It proves conclusively that Clegg is talking nonsense. "From an economic standpoint, the case for the UK's withdrawal from the European Union is overwhelming," is Professor Congdon's conclusion.
About the only point I agree with in Clegg's latest speech is that renegotiation of the terms of British membership, as sought by David Cameron, is doomed to failure. Given that a bespoke relationship for the UK would require the consent of the other 27 members, and given that José Manual Barroso, the president of the European Commission, has said that reversing the process of ever-closer union is a non-starter, he might have something there - at least, I hope he has. No doubt, as in 1975, Cameron's renegotiations (if they continue past the 2015 General election) will contain some token clawing back of a small area of national sovereignty to try to fool the electorate.
Then there is always the possibility of conning the electorate by withdrawing from the European Court of Human Rights (as some Tories are talking about) claiming we have clawed some power back. I hope no politician will stoop this low - the ECHR is not an EU organisation, but part of the Council of Europe. It is the European Court of Justice which is the EU's kangaroo court and which keeps fining us - and from which we cannot withdraw without quitting the EU. Unfortunately, many people aren't aware of the difference.
It is interesting that the organisations to whom he has written to elicit support for the pro-EU cause are charities. Anyone who follows which charities respond will be able to deduce which charities receive the most EU funding. Expect Oxfam (who received €43.6 million of EU funds in 2010) Save the Children (€34.1 million) and International Rescue Committee (€24.8 million) to respond to Clegg's call to arms. Remember, who pays the piper calls the tune - charities heavily dependent on the EU or funding are not going to be keen to see us pull out.
There is no doubt that the battle for withdrawal will be a hard one to win, but we can be thankful for the utterly ridiculous garbage spouted by Mr.Clegg. He has made himself look so pathetic that he is inadvertently strengthening the case for withdrawal. So although every time he opens his mouth, I can feel my blood pressure rising, for the good of the country, on second thoughts, I hope he keeps it up.
If he wants to parade his stupidity, his favourite topic is the EU. He has parroted ad nauseam the myth that three million jobs would be lost if we left the EU. Well, were these three million jobs created by joining the EU? If he bothered to check the UK employment statistics, he would have found that in the first 10 years following our accession to the EEC (as it then was), the number of people in employment actually FELL. Since the Great Recession, UK-born male employment has failed to reach its pre-2008 levels, whereas foreign-born employment, including that of Eastern Europeans has increased. Sorry, Mr Clegg, but the EU has actually destroyed jobs for British-born workers. Leave the EU and the Single Market with its free movement of people, replace our membership with a simple free trade agreement and we could send home most of the Eastern Europeans and CREATE jobs for the people of this country.
However, he continues to drone on, insisting in his most recent speech that leaving the EU would be "economic suicide." I wonder if he has received his copy of the latest "How much does the European Union Cost Britain" booklet by Professor Tim Congdon it is meticulously researched, looking at direct costs, costs of regulation, costs of resource misallocation and so on. It proves conclusively that Clegg is talking nonsense. "From an economic standpoint, the case for the UK's withdrawal from the European Union is overwhelming," is Professor Congdon's conclusion.
About the only point I agree with in Clegg's latest speech is that renegotiation of the terms of British membership, as sought by David Cameron, is doomed to failure. Given that a bespoke relationship for the UK would require the consent of the other 27 members, and given that José Manual Barroso, the president of the European Commission, has said that reversing the process of ever-closer union is a non-starter, he might have something there - at least, I hope he has. No doubt, as in 1975, Cameron's renegotiations (if they continue past the 2015 General election) will contain some token clawing back of a small area of national sovereignty to try to fool the electorate.
Then there is always the possibility of conning the electorate by withdrawing from the European Court of Human Rights (as some Tories are talking about) claiming we have clawed some power back. I hope no politician will stoop this low - the ECHR is not an EU organisation, but part of the Council of Europe. It is the European Court of Justice which is the EU's kangaroo court and which keeps fining us - and from which we cannot withdraw without quitting the EU. Unfortunately, many people aren't aware of the difference.
It is interesting that the organisations to whom he has written to elicit support for the pro-EU cause are charities. Anyone who follows which charities respond will be able to deduce which charities receive the most EU funding. Expect Oxfam (who received €43.6 million of EU funds in 2010) Save the Children (€34.1 million) and International Rescue Committee (€24.8 million) to respond to Clegg's call to arms. Remember, who pays the piper calls the tune - charities heavily dependent on the EU or funding are not going to be keen to see us pull out.
There is no doubt that the battle for withdrawal will be a hard one to win, but we can be thankful for the utterly ridiculous garbage spouted by Mr.Clegg. He has made himself look so pathetic that he is inadvertently strengthening the case for withdrawal. So although every time he opens his mouth, I can feel my blood pressure rising, for the good of the country, on second thoughts, I hope he keeps it up.