Mark Reckless MP: The Case For An In/Out Referendum On Europe

Speaking yesterday (1st February 2011) in the House of Commons during the debate on the European Union Bill, Mark Reckless MP puts forward the case for a straight In/Out Referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union.

Mark Reckless MP: The Case For An In/Out Referendum On Europe

Support Ireland, Not The Euro

Mark Reckless MP speaking in the House of Commons during the Second Reading of the Loans To Ireland Bill on 15th December 2010



Mark's speech was made following a series of questions in the chamber on the issue of the Irish bail out, starting with a question to the Prime Minister David Cameron during PMQs. These are set out below (courtesy of TheyWorkForYou.com)

Loans to Ireland Bill (Allocation of Time): Loans to Ireland Bill (15 Dec 2010)Mark Reckless: The package is described as a bail-out of Ireland, but it is important that we recognise that Ireland has not asked for the bail-out and that it is not the package that the Irish would have wished. Ireland and the IMF proposed to write down bank senior debt-that is, default on an element of that debt-because they recognised that it would be very difficult, although not impossible, for Ireland...

Loans to Ireland Bill (Allocation of Time): Loans to Ireland Bill (15 Dec 2010)Mark Reckless: All we are doing is passing on to Ireland the quarter per cent. or so of benefit that we gain by being a better creditor than the eurozone. Most hon. Members feel that we should help Ireland, but I agree with my hon. Friend that it is not necessarily helpful to Ireland to have a huge amount of extra debt on top of the great debt it already has. On that basis, I understand his point.

Loans to Ireland Bill (Allocation of Time): Loans to Ireland Bill (15 Dec 2010)Mark Reckless: Will my right hon. Friend confirm that, notwithstanding previous assurances, this loan will not rank pari passu with the EU funds extended under the mechanism, but will be subordinated to them?

Loans to Ireland Bill (Allocation of Time): Loans to Ireland Bill (15 Dec 2010)Mark Reckless: It is enormously welcome that this country is working with Iceland and Ireland to support them in these very difficult times. The Chancellor has mentioned the current 7.5-year swap rate; can he tell us how much higher it is than when he first announced our participation in this bail-out?

Loans to Ireland Bill (Allocation of Time) (15 Dec 2010)Mark Reckless: We may have heard one or two "Hear, hears", and I am certainly someone who wants to speak on Second Reading, but let me make clear my appreciation for what my hon. Friend is doing. Any responsibility for the curtailment of time for Back Benchers should rest squarely where it belongs, which is with those on the Treasury Bench.

Oral Answers to Questions — Northern Ireland: National Asset Management Authority (15 Dec 2010)Mark Reckless: What assessment his Department has made of assets held by the Republic of Ireland's National Asset Management Agency in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.

Oral Answers to Questions — Northern Ireland: National Asset Management Authority (15 Dec 2010)Mark Reckless: Given the difficulty NAMA is having in managing these assets and the Republic's already over-indebted situation, would it not make sense for us to take some of those assets off its hands, as consideration for financial support we may give?

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (15 Dec 2010)Mark Reckless: The BBC reports that the German Finance Minister wants to set an interest rate to punish Ireland. Will the Prime Minister confirm that this country wants to help Ireland?

Support Ireland, Not The Euro

Over A Third Of Irish Want To Leave Euro For Pound

I commissioned top Irish pollster RED C to ask the following question to a representative sample of 1,000 people across the Republic of Ireland between 29/11/10 and 1/12/10:

“In light of the current financial crisis, would you support Ireland leaving the Euro and re-establishing a link with the pound sterling, or not?”.

Over a third of the sample answered ‘Yes’.

Support was strongest among the younger age groups and people with children. A majority of those who have already lost their jobs want Ireland to leave the Euro and return to sterling. Even 43% of Sinn Fein supporters now want to return to the pound (see full results).

In the 1990s I was UK Economist for Warburgs and argued that “the UK and Ireland would be especially badly affected by monetary union with the Continent” with Irish bank lending exploding out of control under EMU (see link1 and link2). The fall-out from that has now caused ruling Fianna Fail to fall behind Sinn Fein, even losing in my grandfather’s old seat in Donegal (Henry McDevitt TD 1938-43).

The EU thinks it can order whoever forms Ireland’s new government to slash spending and hike taxes to bail out the European Central Bank (ECB) and European investors in Irish banks. The EU is also demanding that the Irish people submit weekly reports on what they spend and is imposing an interest rate which is intended to punish rather than help.

Such behaviour by the EU may be a miscalculation because it rather assumes that the Irish have nowhere else to go. That is not the case. Individually tens, and perhaps soon hundreds, of thousands are emigrating to England and elsewhere to escape the Carolingian economic settlement.

Collectively, Ireland wants to renounce its politicians’ self-serving guarantee of senior bank debt but, despite IMF support, this has so far been vetoed by the EU and the ECB. Ireland also needs monetary policy better suited to its economy so as to avoid repeated boom-bust cycles in bank lending under the Euro.

The EU may successfully bully Greece or Spain, calculating that it would be too risky for them to reintroduce their own currency, but Ireland has another option. Already over a third of Ireland want bilateral arrangements with the UK, instead of what is on offer from the EU and the Euro, and that is before the EU measures begin to bite.

Over A Third Of Irish Want To Leave Euro For Pound

A Better Option For Ireland

Ireland is being bullied by Euro-zone countries to act in their best interests rather than its own:

• Portugal's finance minister urges Ireland “to do the right thing for the euro and accept a bail-out”;

• Spain’s finance minister tells Ireland to make the “proper decision”; and

• Angela Merkel can’t decide whether to protect German banks, who have over-lent to Ireland, or German taxpayers who would fund a bail out.

Ireland though will act in its own interests - and it has a better option than the two that were open to Greece. The Greeks had to do what they were told by the Germans, or re-establish the drachma.

In the long-term it might be best for Greece to go its own way. In the short-term though the costs of inflation, default and exclusion from the international capital markets would be high, and would only partially be offset by an inflow of bargain hunting tourists.

Unlike Greece, Ireland would not need to re-establish an independent currency, with all the short-term difficulties that would entail. Ireland could simply rejoin sterling and have a monetary policy more suited for Irish needs.

Germany’s Irish loans could be deemed to have been made in sterling, so as to provide a fair return but allow Ireland to start exporting its way back to growth. We would benefit from closer relations with Ireland and keep the spur of Irish tax competition which the EU would snuff out.

Every MP I have spoken to says they would be happy for Ireland to have a guaranteed seat on the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee. This would mean that, unlike before 1979, Ireland as a sovereign country would have a proper say in setting sterling interest rates.

When we raised the idea with David Liddington, our Europe minister, at the Conservative Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday he was positive, if Ireland wants to explore this option. I know the Chancellor will want to help Ireland stand up to bullying at ECOFIN today.

What better way than to let them know they can come back to sterling if the euro isn’t working for them?

A Better Option For Ireland

Dunkirk Little Ships Visit

Cllr Mark Reckless, MP for Rochester and Strood, attended the Dunkirk 70th Anniversary over the weekend, accompanied by fellow Conservative Association members Parish Councillors Chris Buckwell and Alan Marsh, as well as Conservative MEP for South-East England, Daniel Hannan.

Mark said "It was a very moving experience, and we had the chance to speak with veterans who are in their nineties. The Dunkirk Little Ships had made a great effort to return to Dunkirk and I wanted to pay my respects on this historic occasion".



Mark was particularly delighted to meet up with the Tolhurst family from Borstal, including Kelly Tolhurst who took charge of leading the Little Ships into Dunkirk harbour last week, and Ian and Doreen Pearson from Cuxton. Their boats, Lijns and Wendy Ken, had been at Dunkirk in 1940.



Councillor Buckwell also updated Mark on progress being made by the Medway Queen Preservation Society, which was represented at Dunkirk by way of her display vehicle and a number of visiting Preservation Society activists.

Dunkirk Little Ships Visit

Mark Reckless On YouTube

Mark Reckless is pleased to announce the launch of his official YouTube channel where you can view a variety of exclusive videos aimed at giving the public an insight into why Mark Reckless is the only choice for Rochester and Strood at the next general election.

Since going live just four days ago, the channel has proved to be an instant hit with over 3,500 viewers watching highlights from the speech given by Daniel Hannan MEP to supporters and activists here in Rochester and Strood*. You can visit Mark's YouTube channel by clicking here, and please do leave a comment to let us know what you think.

One of the best things about this new addition to Mark's online presence is that it hasn't cost the taxpayer a single penny! Unlike the current Labour MPs here in Medway who managed to spend over £30,000 of taxpayers' money between them in the 2007/08 period alone, Mark Reckless doesn't have a publicly funded 'communications allowance' to tell you about the hard work he is doing for constituents here in Rochester and Strood.

Instead, we rely solely on fundraising activities by local supporters and activists, and donations from the public who want to see change.

If you would like to see change here in Rochester and Strood, and in the country as a whole then please help us fight the publicly funded Labour spin machine by making a small donation. Or why not join the Conservative party and be a part of the change Britain desperately needs. Can you afford another five years of Labour?

*Mark Reckless and Rochester and Strood Conservatives would like to thank David Miller for capturing this event on camera

Mark Reckless On YouTube

Save The Great British Pub

With roughly 7 pubs closing every day of the week, and our own local pubs under threat, we believe that the Government should be doing more to save the Great British pub.

33% of the price of every pint goes in "Beer Tax" to the Government. Labour plan to increase this further, hitting responsible drinkers once again in favour of irresponsible binge drinkers and yobs who cause misery on our high streets and in our community.

Cllr Mark Reckless, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Rochester and Strood, and Daniel Hannan, MEP for the South East of England, have launched the local Save The Great British Pub campaign calling on the Government to Axe the Beer Tax which has seen the loss of well over 3,000 pubs and 24,000 jobs in the industry during the past year alone.

Residents across Rochester and Strood will be invited to visit their local pub to sign the petition calling on the Government to end the year-on-year tax rises on beer that has hit the industry so hard, and they can also sign online by clicking here.

Mark Reckless said: "All small businesses have suffered to one degree or another under Labour from regulation and being used as unpaid tax-collectors, but pubs have suffered terribly, many have had to close, and pubs particularly need a Conservative government to put things right."

Save The Great British Pub

"Mark Reckless: The Right Kind Of MP" by Daniel Hannan MEP

Many congratulations to the Conservatives of Rochester and Strood, who have wisely readopted Mark Reckless as their candidate. I ought to declare an interest: Mark is one of my oldest friends, and was my best man. (He insisted on organising my stag night in Reykjavik, determined that we should celebrate Iceland's status outside the EU.)

In an age when many politicians see preferment as an end in itself, Mark is refreshingly independent: an unapologetic tax-cutter (he was once one of Britain's top-rated economists), a radical libertarian, a localist and an opponent of EU membership. Unsurprisingly, not everyone in the party hierarchy was keen on his candidature.

He is now in the happy position of having secured the Tory nomination with no help - indeed, considerable opposition - from the Conservative machine. The Whips would doubtless have preferred someone more malleable; but the Medway Tories couldn't have done better. During the final round, Mark made a point of telling activists that, before they voted, they should be aware that he disagreed with the party line on several issues; they elected him outright on the first ballot.

Originally posted 28th July 2008 on Daniel Hannan's Telegraph blog - Click Here to view the original

"Mark Reckless: The Right Kind Of MP" by Daniel Hannan MEP