Stronger together, poorer apart: Letter to the Western Morning News

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 29th Apr 2010

Sir, I read with interest Matt Chorley's recent article (WMN, 26.04.10) in which William Hague claims that the Lib Dems are 'covering up' their European Policy.

Anyone who listened to Nick Clegg during last Thursday's leaders debate will realise that this is certainly not the case, and we Lib Dems are proud to talk about our views on Europe.

As Matt Chorley's article points out, there is a considerable amount of concern and misunderstanding about the EU in the South West.

It would be easy to play on these concerns and win votes by 'bashing' the EU, as William Hague and the Tories have done.

But we believe doing so would damage this country's interests and future prosperity.

The single market provides this country with 3m jobs and tremendous opportunities, and that there are certain challenges that cannot be met if we were outside the EU.

If we work with our European partners in these areas we can make Britain safer, greener and more prosperous, in a way that we could never do on our own.

The EU has already helped bring to justice international criminal gangs and clean up the environment. It also provides the best opportunity to regulate successfully the super-banks that sprawl across national borders and create new 'green-jobs'.

An efficient, effective EU is key to Britain's future. As Nick said, we are stronger together and poorer apart.

Lib Dems know that the EU is not perfect. The Common Agricultural Policy needs to be fixed, and Europe needs to focus on the issues that member states cannot tackle alone; we must stop any unnecessary interference.

But these are not reasons to abandon the EU or sit on the sidelines with extremists. They are reasons to place Britain at the heart of Europe and to drive it forward, and secure the maximum possible benefit for this country.

Lib Dems are proud to say this, even when it may not seem popular to do so.

At the same time, we recognise that people are fed up with not being consulted on Europe.

That is why we voted for an "in or out" referendum when the Lisbon Treaty was being debated, and why we are committed to such a referendum when the issue next arises.

And while we believe it to be in Britain's long-term economic interest to move towards membership of the Euro, we should only do so when the time is right. Our manifesto also gives an unequivocal guarantee of a referendum before any commitment is made.

Yours sincerely,

Graham Watson MEP