UK Prime Minister Stands Up to Europe

Britain refuses to budge on the EU budget or the European Court of Human Rights.

October 26, 2012

British Prime Minister David Cameron said he will veto any increase in the next six-year EU budget after talks with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy. EU leaders want the budget to rise above inflation, but Mr. Cameron insists that while European nations are having to cut their spending, the EU’s budget shouldn’t rise above inflation.

“His most senior officials are delivering a similarly uncompromising message behind the scenes, much to the dismay of other EU diplomats,” reported the Financial Times on October 21.

Despite the fact that Germany also opposes a budget increase, it is reportedly annoyed at Mr. Cameron’s refusal to compromise. The Financial Times reported that Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would cancel November’s EU budget meeting, because if Mr. Cameron refused to compromise, there was little point in holding it. The German government has denied the reports.

Mr. Cameron also stood up to the European Court of Human Rights (echr). The court has ruled that prisoners in Britain must get the vote, and Parliament has until the end of November to comply. But Mr. Cameron rejected their demands, saying, “Prisoners are not getting the vote under this government.”

The echr was set up to apply the European Convention on Human Rights. The convention says nothing on the right of prisoners to vote. However the “judges”—who require no prior judicial experience to hold their posts—have decided that their job must go further than interpreting the convention. In doing so, they have triggered a showdown with British Parliament, which voted 234 to 22 to retain the ban on prisoners voting.

The case has become a question of who makes laws in Britain: the elected representatives of the British people, or a foreign court. Now that the debate has been couched in those terms, it would be very difficult for Mr. Cameron to back down.

The echr is not a part of the EU, but is strongly associated with European interference in the affairs of Britain by much of the public. Mr. Cameron’s open defiance of Europe on these matters is a strong reflection of the thoughts of the British people. This strength of popular feeling means that Britain and Europe will soon go their separate ways.