Euro Wars

I decided let the dust settle before commenting on the substance of 'great debate' on Europe - in the House of Commons on Monday.

The first thing to say is that the Prime Minister - David Cameron - had a very easy ride - contrary to what many people expected there was no blood on the floor - on the Tory side at least.

And that seems to be borne out in the opinions polls released since Monday - which have given a boost to the Tories - over both Labour and the Lib Dems.

So at a time in the Westminster government's fortunes when the opposition should be galloping ahead - Labour is in the 'slow lane' to borrow a topical phrase.

Not that Ed Miliband did that badly - in terms of political theatre at least he delivered a fine speech in the House of Commons - full of passion and denunciation of the coalition government.

But the problem was that he said very little that meant anything - he even refused to say whether Labour would have signed up to the proposed new European treaty - despite being offered the chance to explain clearly where his party stood.

Later on - away from the debating chamber - Labour spokespeople admitted that their leader would have refused to sign the treaty as it stood - but that they would have stayed at the negotiating table and would not have walked away.

Now I would probably agree with that - if only I knew what it meant - what would he be trying to negotiate exactly?

What it really amounts to is - I'm a better negotiator than you and I would have achieved a better outcome!'

Which is of course easy to say from the opposition front bench - yet while in power for 13 years Labour did very little to put the UK at the centre of the European project - particularly under Gordon Brown.

I find it difficult to imagine what a Labour government led by Gordon Brown would have done - because he was seen to be extremely hostile to Europe - and for good reasons as far as the former chancellor was concerned.

So how would Labour under Ed Miliband be a great deal different - he was one of Gordon Brown's key allies - the new Labour leader now talks the language of being a progressive pro-European - but did little to advance that agenda while in office.

What struck me as well was the number of senior Labour MPs who were in complete agreement with the Tories during the debate - Frank Field, Kate Hoey and Graham Stringer to name a few.

To my mind Labour has a big problem with its European policy - and is running scared of the electorate in middle England where - like it or not - the Tories and UKIP are much more in tune with the voters.

If Labour is to turn that situation around - it has to promote a much clearer pro-Europe message in the country - not the Westminster bubble and the House of Commons.

Which it has failed to do for years - of course.

So the voters buy the propaganda that the Common Agricutural Policy is incapable of reform - that Europe is stealing our sovereignty (as if that isn't also happening in a whole host of other ways) - and that Brussels is full of corrupt and overpaid bureaucrats.

The Lib Dems are not much better - despite being obviously more pro-European by instinct - but Nick Clegg let the side down by doing his talking via an empty chair.

When he should have made a significant speech outside the House of Commons - explaining clearly why being at the heart of Europe is actually good for Britain - and that other major European countries do not lose their national identity or sovereignty by agreeing to work more closely together.

So if it's not game, set and match to the Tories - for the pro-Europeans among us - it's certainly advantage middle-England and Les Rosbifs.