Dear Claire,
It’s going to have to be a fairly brief letter today, as I have to go to London for work and need to catch a train. You know – the one from Bedwyn that you managed to get electrification for….oh, I remember, you didn’t did you.
Anyway, I will take a break from shooting fish in a barrel – the ongoing IDS bashing, it really is so easy! The field is rich with pickings, despite IDS denying everything.
On the radio this morning (The Today Programme on Radio 4), the hosts interviewed a chap from the vehicle engineering firm Mira. Now Mira are involved in all sorts of things. They’re a vehicle engineering design, test and development firm.
The chap being interviewed was the CEO. He was saying what a disaster it would be for the UK to leave the EU. He said that when negotiating with companies overseas, even though we don’t yet know whether there’s going to be a referendum on EU membership, he is ALREADY being questioned about this. He is having to give overseas companies, with which he wants to do business, assurances that ‘No, Britain is not about to leave the EU’. He’s being questioned about this by companies outside the EU (e.g. China), so the UK leaving the EU would not only have ramifications as regards our position with other EU states, but would affect our ability to do business globally.
Can you see how damaging even the prospect of holding an in/out referendum on EU membership is? That the Tories can even contemplate this when they are “The party that likes to do business” and “The bankers’ friend” is madness.
Yes, I know naughty Nigel’s manifesto is entirely costed on immediate withdrawal from the EU, as well as stopping overseas aid, but other than a few reluctant IQs, I don’t think many people take him too seriously. It has been said you got a bit of a rough ride at one of the local hustings meetings by some of his more vocal supporters.
Anyway, Cameron has desperately been talking up the Tory promise (whatever one of those might be worth) to hold an in/out referendum. I don’t think he’s really thought this one through! It’s a desperate attempt to woe back those disaffected Tories that have strayed ever further to the right, and are threatening to vote for naughty Nigel.
The reality of this is that you’re taking a shotgun, resting both feet on a stool in front of you, and not so much shooting yourself in the foot, as blasting both lower legs to kingdom come. It is reckless and the consequence, like so much that comes out of any voice in the Cabinet, has not been considered. It’s a purely populist knee-jerk reaction to stem the tide of people swayed by naughty Nigel’s rhetoric.
The problem is, it’s already hurting British companies, and it will continue to do so.
So where are you taking your battle bus today? Who’s going to be on the receiving end of your smiley “I’m Claire Perry, your local Conservative parliamentary candidate”? You may even get your photo in the local news again. That’ll be exciting!
Kind regards
Polly
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