European Affairs

I want a referendum because I want a fundamentally different Europe. The EU has evolved completely beyond what even the most sceptical and pessimistic of us envisaged at the beginning. I felt that the EU would eventually fail as an organisation and become a very loose confederation. Sadly, I have been proved wrong. As my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Ms Stuart) said, those at the core who have driven the process forward have been such a tight-knit cabal and so clever that they have been able to manipulate the processes. They have left everyone else behind. The political parties have been sucked into it—more fool them, because we need to recognise that people outside feel detached and discontented with what is happening. I chided my hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell) on the decline of manufacturing, which is my second and final point. As I said, ownership matters, and we have seen the ownership of our great industries such as energy and water, and particularly our great manufacturing base, gradually drift abroad. We have ended up in the most ridiculous situation. Barely 11 per cent. of our gross domestic product comes from manufacturing, which is completely untenable and unacceptable. That must be reversed as a matter of urgency.