Cameron's phony EU battle is over; let the real battle commence

Another EU summit, another all-nighter, another pretend game of brinkmanship, but last night David Cameron emerged triumphant, proclaiming with confidence that he now believes he has secured the reforms required for him to be able to recommend our continued membership of the EU. And here it is, ladies and gentlemen – Britain’s new deal. It is the deal that, for David Cameron, apparently changes everything.
It took him from an undecided voter who insisted that he “rules nothing out” in almost every interview, to a fully committed enthusiast for us remaining within the EU.

As a Tory who has always stated my desire to remain in the EU, I should be elated that we now have the Prime Minister’s support, no? Better late than never, surely? Except that if we do win this referendum, that will be despite, not thanks to David Cameron. When this campaign started, the prospect of us leaving the EU seemed like a fantasy. No, I’m not basing that on polls (look where that got me in May), but the everyday pulse check we can get from conversations with people, social media and platforms such as radio phone-ins. To be honest, I don’t think most people were that bothered, and the apathetic tend to oblige, if begrudgingly, with whatever the great and the good tell them to do. That has all changed.
I now believe the prospect of us voting to leave the European Union is a very real one. By setting expectations impossibly high, David Cameron has succeeded in making the EU appear intransigent, uncompromising and indifferent to British concerns. How, people will ask, can it be that Cameron asked for nothing whatsoever, and still managed to get even less? Eurosceptics will insist that it is disgraceful that the EU, not Britain, ultimately has say over Child Benefit, having forced Cameron to compromise his manifesto pledge to end payment of this benefit to children overseas. They will point out that his so-called ‘red card’ appears to have slipped off the radar altogether even in the last couple of weeks, when it was a nonsense gimmick anyway that simply repackaged a Lisbon Treaty system already in place. They will point to the safeguards for the city, unclear though their substance is at this time, and argue that the EU has relented most on policies affecting big chiefs in London, playing in to a populist anti-austerity narrative. All this, the Eurosceptics can now add to their repertoire of complaints. Now that they don’t have to trot out blatant rubbish about leaving making our borders safer, they must be breathing a sigh of relief.

One thing we all need to understand about politics is that the truth counts for much less than the perceived truth. All of these claims can be argued by those who support our membership of the EU – indeed they must be. Let’s take benefits, for example. I find it deeply depressing that David Cameron thinks that curbing Child benefits sent overseas is what really vexes the British people, as he proclaims in justification of his piffling half-victory on this issue. IT may not be right that my taxes, paid over several years, may well have been used to pay up to £20 a week for a child in Eastern Europe, but am I angry about it? Not really: that child has a parent working overseas, far away. That parent can’t give him a hug when he falls and grazes his knee, meet him from the school gates or spend quality time with him at the weekend. That child and that parent have lost enough. It’s certainly not going to change my voting intentions. It’s also something that could easily be fixed by making changes applicable to everyone, for example stipulating that the benefit will be paid to resident dependents, or requiring a minimum in contributions made before the benefit can be accessed, that applies to British citizens as well. I think this would be equally workable for in-work benefits. I am uncomfortable with the idea that 2 people can contribute in to the pot exactly the same, but only one can take back from it because he is British and his counterpart is Polish. Oh, and the one who can take the in-work benefits will be the one who will have taken more from the system before beginning to contribute in the first place. Everyone must have a minimum period of work under their belts before accessing in-work benefits. That is much better than a discriminatory system that sets different bars for people equally economically productive. No other country, to my knowledge, loses money overseas this way or has its welfare system attract migrants in the way Cameron and others consistently claim ours does. Yet we are supposed to believe that it’s the fault of the grasping EU, and that Cameron has stamped his foot and told them no. Rubbish! IT’s our system, within our gift to fix. Whilst Cameron has taken great and often unnecessary strides to dispel the myth held by those who don’t like us that we’re the ‘nasty party,’ he rather undermines that with his appalling description of “a something for nothing culture,” and acting in a manner that suggests that he still believes that his party is backed by nasty voters.

This referendum is the most important vote in a generation. It must be decided on the big issues: the economy, jobs, security and how Britain sees itself in the world. Both sides of the argument need to put forward their answer to what the big picture looks like. I have heard a lot of commentators claim that the pro-EU camp has welcomed Cameron’s renegotiation, whilst it is the Eurosceptics that are attacking its complete lack of substance. I, however, am more sympathetic to the Eurosceptic critique of the deal. But more than being frustrated by Cameron’s blatant dishonesty with the voters about what could have been achieved and what he himself promised, I am disappointed that the in campaign has been paralysed during this whole process, unclear what exactly it is supposed to be defending. The blame for that lies squarely with David Cameron. It has allowed the outers to get away with murder and it has hardened people against the EU in the meantime. With the sideshow now over, Cameron can delude himself all he wants about his legacy and his role in helping ensure we stay in. The rest of us stayers, Conservatives in particular, have done our bit by humouring Cameron. Now the pretence that anything radical is going to happen is over, let’s grow some balls and take the fight to the out campaign. Let’s point out that they have no vision of Britain outside to offer. Let’s point out that their claims about improved trading prospects are highly dubious. Let’s point out that any threats to us from Europe’s migration crisis (from which we have shamefully turned our faces away) would actually be made worse if we left the EU. Let’s show that we can influence the EU. Let’s really take Eurosceptics on. Let’s show that it is they whose entire case is based on ‘Project Fear.’ Let’s expose the paucity of their arguments. Cameron might be the reason why the outers have had it easy up to now, but we Europhiles will be to blame if that doesn’t change fast. Come on, let’s fight to win. Cameron’s phony EU battle is over; let the real battle commence.