Psyringe: To be honest, it sounds like a populist publicity stunt to me, considering that (a) it has zero chance to go through, and (b) even if it _did_ go through, the UK would still be bound by all its contracts with the EU and its member states. So this proposal seems to be a symbolic act, enacted to garner some publicity among Euro-skeptics who don't bother to look at the fine-print. Apparently it's succeeding.
It's definitely that, and perhaps a little more. They want a proper debate on our role in Europe, whether to embrace it as, so they say, it's to our benefit. Or to GTFO because we'll be constantly forced to enact damaging legislation, pay out ever-increasing costs, and be subservient to people's will who know, and care, little about what Britain does in the world, so long as it's what they say to do.
And for contracts - nope. Everything is tacked onto that one "European Communities Act (1972)", so as this bill repeals that from our lawbooks, and ALL relevant and subsequent legislation, it's ALL gone. In a snip. Everything will be renegotiated, hopefully on much better terms : less costs, less interference in areas of British life that no Customs Union (or alleged Free Trade bloc) should ever mess in - criminal law, etc...
We'll probably be throwing you a bill for our fish stocks, too. "Devastated" is not the right word for them, since 1972, but it's DAMNED close to what's happened to them. You can probably expect one from the West African nations, too.
The only thing preventing that is a government (all parties) bending over backwards for the Kommission, probably in the hope they'll get a decent job, wage, pension and bonuses, for themselves and their family, cronies, rich bum-chums.
They've NEVER told the British Public the truth about the EU, its interference, it's diktats and effects. They have resorted to lies, outright propaganda and fear to placate the plebs.
This bill being submitted may not get anywhere, but it has been submitted now. It will trigger an outcry on a scale never seen before for a full and proper debate on the issues. One they won't so easily dismiss as the last one.
Crosmando: What I don't get about poms is how they try to have their cake and eat it too. They want all the benefits of being in the EU, but none of the responsibilities. They want to be powerful and influential in Europe, yet at the same time seem to display a bizarre sense of jingoism which denies that England is even on the same continental plate as Europe.
Plus, it's not like the UK's conservatives are the beacons of "independence", they just want to get further away from Europe and closer to America.
It's not about getting closer to America. It's about once more being a Sovereign nation, in control of its own laws, processes, and direction. I'm fairly sure you can appreciate that, being an Australian.
If anything, America is just as bad a state to tie yourself to as is the EU-SSR. They're all in the process of screwing each other over for a matter of pennies, that lose value daily.
The EU was founded on a pretty decent principle : Stop Germany from kicking France's arse every 50 years, and stop France trying to take over the continent every 100 years...Unfortunately, they got lost somewhere around "STOP!"...They got too big for their boots, and now they (collectively) don't want to stop accruing powers to themselves. They don't care about democracy - they proved that with the Irish and French and whoever-the-third-country-to-fail-it-was referendae on Lisbon. "You voted wrong! Go back and do it again until you pass this treaty!"
That's why the UK won't get one UNTIL Westminster can be 95% sure the public will vote to stay in the EU....
