John Baron MP signs Parliamentary amendment to Government Motion over EU Stability Mechanism

MP says the UK should extract concessions 

This week John Baron MP signed an Amendment to a Government Motion regarding the EU Stability Mechanism, and was joined by fellow Eurosceptics. The issue was then debated in the House of Commons. The Government Motion was intended to enable the Euro-zone states to set up their own €400 billion bail-out fund and involves amending Article 136 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The decision to amend the EU Treaty has to be unanimous, so Britain could use its veto.

John asked the Minister during the Debate last night:

“The key issue is that this vote in Brussels has to be unanimous so Britain should use the power of its veto by extracting concessions in our national interest – such as the Working Time Directive which is, after all, a stated objective in the Con Lib Coalition Agreement.”

The Minister replied that London believed there would be better opportunities to extract concessions over the Working Time Directive.

John said afterwards:

“Thankfully we do not belong to the Euro or the Stability Mechanism. So we should be extracting concessions now over the Working Time Directive from our European neighbours. People in this country are fed up with the salami-slicing of our sovereignty. The time has come to start repatriating powers back to the UK.”

• The Amendment tabled by John and other Conservative Eurosceptics was not chosen by the Speaker, so no vote was taken. However, the Minister did promise to bring the issue back to the House of Commons for a vote before the EU amendment was voted on in Brussels.