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The totalitarian regime that has “subverted our freedoms” is the failed constitution we have in the UK which allows those powers to be handed over without intervention by referendum and without insisting that, when those powers are handed over, they’re handed over to a democratic alternative.

If you want to be picky, of course, the sovereignty of the UK has never existed — since the UK was formed in 1707 sovereignty has remained in the hands of the monarch. At no point has that constitutional reform taken place which would have placed sovereignty with the people.

Personally, I blame the Conservative, Labour and the Liberal Democrats for this. And it is no good David Cameron thumping his chest when, actually, he hasn’t put together a coherent alternative to treaty after treaty after treaty.

What is needed is a vision for Europe setting out appropriate democratic reform of its governance (an elected Commission or at the very least an elected President of the EU who could appoint that commission).

But with constitutional reform on our side of the channel, the EU would seem more democratic in any case. Why, for example, should an MP for one constituency, be able to act like a President and appoint not only his entire cabinet but also the policy-maker for Europe who happens to come from these countries (the UK)? Wouldn’t it be much better to have an elected head of the government who could then appoint a Commissioner? If our electoral process, for this head of government, were as robust as the French presidential election system, a majority of the people would have voted for that person!

So here is my response:

The comparison is specific: The EU does not allow the votes of the electorate, the results of plebiscites or the will of the populace to decide what it does. Worse, when an electorate opposes something, the EU claims that it was a protest about an unrelated issue.
The EU is currently instituting all the major objectionable features of the Lisbon Treaty (formerly known as the Constitutional Treaty) despite “No” votes in three member countries and so the failure to ratify the treaty in national parliaments. If the EU cared what the people thought it would make the following changes tomorrow:
1. It would offer a referendum on the EU Constitutional Treaty;
2. It would cease all implementation activity on Constitutional Treaty proposals that are being carried out elsewhere;
3. It would allow elections for the Commission which performs a role much like the cabinet / President of most countries in the world and so should be elected.

Why do I single out Daniel Hannan?

“… at every opportunity the people vote no. If you think I’m wrong, prove me wrong, put the Lisbon Treaty to a referendum; Pactio Olisipiensis Censenda Est.” Daniel Hannan (in almost every video!)

See these videos:

It is easy, when you are not a political anorak, to forget just what a corrupt organisation it is that makes the majority of our laws. The ‘elections’ we’ll have in June will not do anything to address that.

If you support a party that supports retained membership of the EU, don’t vote that way in June if you agree that democracy is the best form of government. If your party support retained membership of the EU, write to your MP, write to the leader of that party and tell them that you are not happy with being run by the EU.

But let’s leave the EU.

For the first time every member of the party is being given an opportunity to vote on the rankings of Tory MEPs and candidates. This is fantastic news as it counters my comments in this post.

While it is a secret ballot I am keen that everyone knows which MEPs are Eurosceptics and which are Europhiles. Then people reading this can vote along those lines without having to go to the same effort as me!

So here’s how I’m voting:
1. Daniel Hannan MEP
2. Nirj Deva MEP
3. Richard Ashworth MEP
4. (Because you are required to rank all candidates) James Elles MEP

You may remember that Mr Elles is a pro-EU Tory who supported the Lisbon Treaty and who wishes to remain in the EPP-ED.

And in Ballot 2:
1. Richard Robinson
2. Nina Kaariniemi
3. Sarah Richardson
4. Tony Devenish
5. Therese Coffey
6. Marc Brunel-Walker

Please bear in mind that my decisions regarding Ballot 2 were largely as a result of answers on Conservative Home’s Goldlist site