Thursday 3 September 2009

Number crunching


The recent European elections were a complete farce few cannot deny that. 15,072,325 votes were cast or 34% of the electorate which continues the downward trend from the previous year where 37.6% were eligible to vote. That is a 3.6% drop in the voters. I know I had to beg most of my acquaintances to join me at the polling station. Some people hold the view that if we do not join in at all that is a much better protest against than EU than playing along in their little show.

I respectfully disagree. I am going to defend this view by posting the quote which has now become a bit cliché but nonetheless is still dangerously important. What is more it seems that destiny is playing a sadistic twist of fate on us mere mortals: Edmund Burke whom this quote is attributed to was Irish...
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
I voice my protest against the EU by telling them to sod of in the form of UKIP. They might not be the best paragons of British sovereignty but they are currently the only option we have and that must do for now.

But I thought we should consider some of the numbers from the past election and more specifically hone in on the parties who have as their explicit policy for the UK to withdraw from the EU. Here are the main ones (please feel free to correct me if I have left someone out)

UKIP - 2,498,226
NO2EU - 153,236
UK First - 74,007
BNP - 943,598
English Democrats - 279,801

Total: 3,948,868

What does this mean then, presuming that the voting population who did in fact do so, is somewhat intelligent (I do not buy into the fact that nearly 1,000,000 are racists - people voted BNP because they are and were sick of Labour failure in every single policy area) that is to say actually read the policies of their proposed receiving party, knew that they favoured complete withdrawal.

However a twist on this then is to say that people actually believe that the Tories also are eurosceptic, again I am going to disagree with this claim for I have yet to see any unreproachable evidence to its demise. The we have so far it "we wont let matters rest there" and that is, ladies and gentelemen, the magnus opus of Conservative EU-policy eventhough they are fully aware that the electorate loathe it and they have to self censor their cleverest minds so that they wont blurt out anything too eurosceptic. For what would our masters in Brussels think if we did not play ball? I imagine they want the status-quo to continue along the lines it is currently doing in the NATO with a remarkably intelligent line from a remarkably stupid man, Eric Joyce
For many, Britain fights, Germany pays, France calculates, Italy avoids.
Now if we are to extrapolate this little golden gem literacy into EU matters, then it would read something along the lines of Britain pays, Germany makes, France takes and Italy breaks.

Going back to the numbers then; of the 15,072,325 who voted 3,948,868 wanted complete withdrawal or 26% of the 34% who actually bothered to vote. A further 4,198,394 Conservative voters were coned into thinking that their party was actually eurosceptic. If we are to make an assumption, based solely on my interaction with Tories, then it can be assumed that of the 34% that bothered to vote 53% were highly highly eurosceptic. Both the europhile parties in the UK, the Libdems and Labour, lost 1.2% and 6.9% of their vote respectively.

I am an undying optimist and I do whole heartedly believe and hope that the UK will eventually withdraw from the EU. It strikes me as an impossibility, a non sequitur clause, that it would not.

And to sum up, I will, Mr Cameron, "Bang on" about the EU for as long as it takes for the message to pass through your thick skull that we do not want anymore part in their little project. We have had enough. Please feel free to try and find one poll that is positive about the EU.

3 comments:

subrosa said...

Neither labour or the tories will change their minds about the EU, not until public pressure becomes too much. Therefore it is all up to the public to show their displeasure with the present situation.

I would like Scotland, when it becomes independent, to have trading links with the EU, but not to be a partner. Like many small countries it may survive better in such a situation.

It was a desire of mine to see the UK on that footing but, as I say, I don't see it happening.

13th Spitfire said...

Precisely why we must keep on telling them again and again: Stop this bloody nonsense and get out.

We know the Lisbon Treaty better than the European ministers, we know the EU law better than them and most of all we know how the EU works. How it unofficially works not the chummy-chummy way they splash all over the BBC.

Why they cannot get away unless they censor the internet.

If anything the past few months have shown that Gordon Brown really does not care one bit about his legacy or he would have resigned and called fresh elections.

However when the Lisbon Treaty has been signed I can see the public anger rising to a climax that not even call-me-Dave can ignore.

GoodnightVienna said...

I'm also hopeful that public reaction will win the day - the politicians can't go on ignoring us forever.