The Spectator reported today that David Cameron will, before Christmas, announce a referendum on his renegotiation of the UK’s membership of the European Union should he be re-elected. Quite what this means, and indeed whether it will actually happen, is unclear.
As a prelude to this theoretical referendum, the government is undertaking a “Balance of Competencies” review to scrutinise the impact the EU has on Britain. This is good news. But whilst a review of the EU’s influence is long overdue, this doesn’t go far enough and is not the “comprehensive audit” the Foreign Secretary claims it to be.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance has, for years, called for a full, frank and fair analysis of concrete (red tape, Single Market value etc.) and indirect (democratic deficit, effect on stability in Europe) costs and benefits to be conducted by all government departments. On at least two occasions, the Treasury has attempted to do just this only for politicians to pull the plug when the numbers started to emerge.
For far too long taxpayers have seen vast sums of their money shovelled directly into the furnaces of the Brussels gravy train whilst the true, total costs resulting from the burdensome regulations bureaucrats lumber on British business remain uncalculated.
