There's there death knell.

Douglas Carswell, Conservative, Clacton, has submitted the "European Communities Act 1972 (repeal)" Private Members' Bill.
1st Reading debate. Vote to send it to Second Reading after.
Then it'll be sent to Committee stage to consider adding amendments.
Then it'll be down to a vote to enact it.

And then...it'll be sent to the Upper Chamber, House of Lords, for a similar, but shorter process. Then on to Her Majesty for Royal Assent.

Au revoir, Frenchies, and Krauts!! We're keeping our monies!

Or we could talk about what will actually come of it: nothing.
"He admitted it had little chance of becoming law..." - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20085437

meh. Hope it fails.

I don't want see UK on the planet of earth.

Probably so....but it's the first time someone's had the balls to actually submit that bill...
It'll set the cat out amongst the pigeons if nothing else, and force Camoron to get out of his "I'll veto those evil EU buggers!" corner to show his true colours.

And just this minute, it's been adjourned until 1st March >.<

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.

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 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. 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....

Yes but as I understand it, the EU doesn't actually govern countries, it just makes broad "laws" about broad topics like human rights, which are already agreed upon by the countries anyway. In addition to an economic union.

Economically speaking no country can survive anymore completely on their own, I'm pretty sure that if Australia stopped selling raw materials to China or trading in Asia, my standard of living and the rest of my country would go down the toilet. I don't imagine the UK would fair any better if it decided to cut itself off from the EU.

This made me glad. It probably won't get anywhere, or change anything, but still. It made me a little bit glad.

Tell that to Italy. Elected leader forced out. EU autocrat installed.
Ditto two or three other nations.
Also got to love how certain prominent nations totally ignore those EU "directives" if it doesn't suit their country's needs, yet expect everyone else to do so, damaging or not.

It's not about surviving on your own, it;s about signing up for one thing, free trade bloc, and getting something totally different. Trades Description Act would be all over their arses if they were selling a product or service....Britain has ALWAYS been a global trader. Tying ourselves to the rotting corpse of Europe, who have been given sovereign powers to dictate our trade policies is ridiculous, especially when they take in the output of Poland and Greece and every other memberstate into account. Outside of the EU, we'll be free to renegotiate trades with ANYONE, on OUR terms, at OUR convenience, and not have an interfering Customs Union with delusions of grandeur interfere.

Tell me, in the whole history of the world, how many Customs Unions have been viable entities?

The authors of the Bible were better at macroeconomics than European policymakers.

Well, at least you got to keep your own currency so even Cameron has a hard time strangling your economy.

You know...it probably won't. But now someone's finally had the balls to stand up and do it, it's going to be harder for the vested interests in the Civil Service, and Westminster to deny having a full debate about the situation. That alone is reason to be cheerful. We should have stayed in the EFTA with you and Denmark, and the others.

They say a week is a long time in politics. How much more so is 37 years without revisiting the relationship?

That's not stopping him from trying, though :P
At least by current reports, anyway O_o

And I suppose we should thank Gordon Brown for keeping us out, during his brief tenure...even if it was only to spite Bliar...

Uh, Free Scotland?

I'll take your scotland off your hands if its free. No wales though.

And what about wimpy part of Ireland?