The European Council on Foreign Relations

London view: Do the Lib Dems still love Europe?

Date: 5th January 2012  |  Author: Nicholas Walton,

Categories: Euro Crisis, Reinventing Europe,
Tags: , lib dems, liberal democrats, nick clegg, david cameron

Times have been hard for the junior partners in Britain's governing coalition. The Lib Dem's age-old yearning for a place in government was finally rewarded in the last election with the last thing some of them wanted - not just a coalition with the Conservatives, but a coalition with a Conservatives party that planned deep cuts in public spending and who had a certain Euroscepticism embedded deep in its DNA. 

The Europe issue is as important for many traditionally Europhile Lib Dems as it is for the many Europhobic Tories, and - ever since David Cameron drew a line in the sand at a summit in Brussels a month ago - it seems to have begun emerging as a red button issue within the coalition. So where do the Lib Dems stand on an issue that could, conceivably, bring about the downfall of the British government?

Nick Clegg explained his position in a beginning-of-a-new-year interview for BBC Radio 4's Today programme, which you can listen to here. Bluntly, he opposes the prime minister's actions for the following reasons:

1. Three million British people depend on Britain's place at the heart of Europe for their jobs. Mr Clegg believes these jobs are best protected by a strong voice within Europe, but he also thinks that the British influence makes the EU a stronger and more competitive place.

2. "No one planned for an outcome that left Britain in a position of one", he said. The dangers for Mr Clegg are 'obvious' - others may do things in a way not helpful to the UK as a country, and now there is no good, British influential voice in the debate.

3. The pre-discussed negotiating position was built around several requests to do with a proper single market and level playing field in financial services. "In the event the Lib Dem leader says the important thing now is to use Britain's 'considerable clout' in the heart of Europe to deal with the lack of European competitiveness that threatens to leave Europe in a state of crisis in ten, fifteen, twenty years time. This very British view of the EU was backed up by a splendidly British line to illustrate the European Union's faults - any club that could take fifteen years to define exactly what chocolate was, said Mr Clegg, was an imperfect organisation that needed reforming.

Nick Clegg, of course, is not the Deputy Prime minister for no reason, and has a day to day understanding of how power (especially shared power) involves compromises that is still alien to much of his party's (vanishing) base. The interview defined the Lib Dems against the Conservatives on this key European issue without once making it seem like there was anything that could prompt a serious falling out, beyond a frank discussion of negotiating tactics in Brussels. Even on the Lib Dem website the European issue has gone missing. It lists 12 things on the 'What we stand for' page, including Europe only under the 'International Affairs' issue. In the five paragraphs of text on 'International Affairs', Europe is mentioned only once - the EU is simply listed alongside the UN, NATO and WTO as a place where Britain must work effectively alongside its partners.

Europe may be a toxic issue in British politics, and issues connected to Europe, the euro and the EU's economy might be more important to Britain's future than any debate over tax rates or Afghanistan. But the message from the Lib Dems - and Nick Clegg in particular - is that nobody should expect it to become the big subject in British politics any time soon.

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