Should We Stay or Should We Go?

There are few issues in modern political life that generate more passionate feelings than our membership of the European Union. It has split parties and caused voters to switch allegiances at elections. The stakes have now been raised even further by the proposed European constitution, the rejection of which is seen by those who have been critical of the European project as the last chance to retain our sovereignty as an independent, self-governing democracy.

Opinion polls show the majority of the British people to have doubts about the constitution. However, views are still divided on whether or not we should leave the EU altogether. In this pamphlet two authors, both critical of the current EU, put the case for and against withdrawal.

For Stephen Pollard, the constitution represents the last gasp of the 'Old Europe', written by 'the archetypal Old Europe politician, Giscard D'Estaing', centralised, federalist and inefficient. A 'No' vote in the promised referendum would send a shock to the heart of the EU, forcing it to become 'more market-flexible, politically loose and sovereignty-respecting'. For Lord Pearson, the whole project has already gone too far for that. With or without the constitution, so much of our sovereignty has been ceded that the only way forward, for both political and economic reasons, is to get out. 'Leaving the EU would be a liberating, refreshing, positive, modern thing to do.' Both of the essays printed here are in the best tradition of political polemic. The authors argue their opposing positions with passion and conviction, enabling readers to compare and evaluate the two sides of this most topical debate.

• Primary Source

Civitas: Press Release, No.40 (2005): Is now the time to withdraw from the EU? http://www.civitas.org.uk/press/prcs40.php

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