By Paul Bowers.
Please write to your MP to suggest that some ALL PARTY activity be undertaken on the European Union. These approaches are more collaborative than our two party politics allows and Paul has experience as a lobbyist. There are two versions of the letter below to suit your own needs. Please feel free to adapt as necessary.
Version 1: if your MP is NOT a Liberal Democrat (see version 2 below if s/he IS a LibDem)
[Name] MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
Dear [MP]
All-Party Parliamentary Group on European Union
I am writing as a constituent to ask you to consider setting up an All-Party Parliamentary Group on the European Union.
[ADAPT AS NECESSARY: I am a member of {name of activist group}]. I voted Remain in the 2016 referendum, and I have campaigned on the issue ever since.]
[INSERT PERSONAL CONNECTION HERE: In addition, my husband is Estonian; I have fond memories of studying at the Sorbonne; I once ate a croissant … ]
The Government’s responses have been to undermine the very withdrawal from the EU that it proclaimed. Checks on imports are not used, placing UK business at a disadvantage; a one-way visa scheme for HGV drivers is introduced; and the Northern Ireland Protocol that the Government celebrated is now disowned.
Brexit has also damaged UK democracy, reduced our standing in the world, stigmatised EU nationals, and divided our country.
I believe that membership of the European Union is a necessity for the UK.
However, the response of the major political parties to the result of the 2019 general election risks creating a vicious circle of despair. Many voters wish to rejoin the EU, but feel that this is not possible because politicians are not showing leadership to that end. They feel politically homeless.
If no voice in Parliament even addresses the damage of our loss of membership, nor points out the opportunities presented by new developments within the EU, such as the growth of the green and digital sectors from the ambitious NextGenerationEU recovery and transformation plan, we will not be in a position to take advantage promptly of any opportunity to promote membership that might arise.
According to the APPG Register of 6 October 2021, there are Groups on individual European countries, but not on the EU itself. APPGs on Erasmus and on Reuniting Britain Post-Brexit, which were on the June Register, have vanished. There are groups, however, on other international organisations, such as the UN and the Commonwealth.
As you may know, Article 11 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement provides that the European Parliament and the UK Parliament may establish a Parliamentary Partnership Assembly “to exchange views on the partnership.”
In its Resolution 2021/2658(RSP) of 28 April 2021, the European Parliament endorsed this, envisaging an Assembly which would monitor implementation of the TCA, and suggesting that its remit include “the right to submit recommendations for areas where improved cooperation could be beneficial for both parties and to take joint initiatives to promote close relations.”
An APPG could support this work, and undertake a number of other roles:
- Provide scrutiny of the TCA, now that the Government has abolished the Commons Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union
- Raise awareness of the damage caused by Brexit and the broken promises of Brexiteers
- Channel constituents’ views on policies that might reconcile them to EU membership
- Represent the experiences of EU national constituents and their children
- Commission research, providing spokespeople to the media and promoting an informed view of the EU, life outside, and the accession process
- Provide a conduit to Parliament, through external membership, for informed activists
- Contact the Conference on the Future of Europe to discuss reforms that might help reconcile UK voters to a future return, and to stay in touch with new developments in the EU
- Create a basis for lobbying within your own party in an effort to shift the leadership towards Rejoin
I hope you will consider this suggestion positively, and speak to other Members about the possibility of creating an APPG on the EU. The longer we go without one, the more glaring the omission, and the harder it will be for politicians to break their silence on this most vital of issues.
Yours sincerely,
[Name]
[Address]
Version 2: If your MP is a Liberal Democrat
[Name] MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
Dear [MP]
All-Party Parliamentary Group on European Union
I am writing as a constituent to ask you, as a Liberal Democrat MP, to advance your party’s conference policies by setting up an All-Party Parliamentary Group on the European Union.
[ADAPT AS NECESSARY: I am a member of {name of political party, activist group, etc}. I voted Remain in the 2016 referendum, and I have campaigned on the issue ever since.]
[INSERT PERSONAL CONNECTION HERE: In addition, my husband is Estonian; I have fond memories of studying at the Sorbonne; I once ate a croissant … ]
As you know, successive Liberal Democrat conferences have established as party policy support for the long-term objective of EU membership, and in the meantime close alignment on trade, security, environmental and other issues. They have condemned the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. They have authorised party bodies to demonstrate to the public the benefits of a closer relationship, create roadmaps towards the single market, customs union and agencies, and maximise support for renewed membership of the EU.
Leaving the EU has damaged the UK’s fishing communities, threatens our farmers and food security, has cost eye-watering sums for financial services, harmed our creative industries, and forced many exporters either to scale down or to relocate. Outside the EU we have not strengthened our standards, we have lowered them. We have not prospered, we have lost business and consumer choice. We have suffered disruption to supply chains that outstrips any global Covid effect. Raw sewage floats in our rivers and seas, livestock are needlessly culled, fruit and vegetables rot in the fields.
The Government’s responses have been to undermine the very withdrawal from the EU that it proclaimed. Checks on imports are not used, placing UK business at a disadvantage; a one-way visa scheme for HGV drivers is introduced; and the Northern Ireland Protocol that the Government celebrated is now disowned.
Brexit has also damaged UK democracy, reduced our standing in the world, stigmatised EU nationals, and divided our country.
I believe that membership of the European Union is a necessity for the UK.
However, the response of the major political parties to the result of the 2019 general election risks creating a vicious circle of despair. Many voters wish to rejoin the EU, but feel that this is not possible because politicians are not showing leadership to that end. They feel politically homeless.
Regardless of the Liberal Democrat policy on paper, the party is not providing any tangible leadership against Brexit or against the TCA, nor is it fulfilling its commitment to point out the benefits of a closer relationship.
If no voice in Parliament even addresses the damage of our loss of membership, nor points out the opportunities presented by new developments within the EU, such as the growth of the green and digital sectors from the ambitious NextGenerationEU recovery and transformation plan, we will not be in a position to take advantage promptly of any opportunity to promote membership that might arise.
As you may know, Article 11 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement provides that the European Parliament and the UK Parliament may establish a Parliamentary Partnership Assembly “to exchange views on the partnership.”
In its Resolution 2021/2658(RSP) of 28 April 2021, the European Parliament endorsed this, envisaging an Assembly which would monitor implementation of the TCA, and suggesting that its remit include “the right to submit recommendations for areas where improved cooperation could be beneficial for both parties and to take joint initiatives to promote close relations.”
An APPG could support this work, and undertake a number of other roles:
- Raising awareness of the damage caused by Brexit and the broken promises of Brexiteers
- Channelling constituents’ views on policies that might reconcile them to EU membership
- Creating a basis for lobbying within your own party in an effort to shift the leadership towards Rejoin
- Representing the experiences of EU national constituents and their children
- Providing scrutiny of the TCA, now that the Government has abolished the Commons Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union
- Commissioning research, providing spokespeople to the media and promoting an informed view of the EU, life outside, and the accession process
- Providing a conduit to Parliament, through external membership, for informed activists
- Contacting the Conference on the Future of Europe to discuss reforms that might help reconcile UK voters to a future return, and to stay in touch with new developments in the EU
I hope you will consider this suggestion positively, and speak to other Members about the possibility of creating an APPG on the EU. The longer we go without one, the more glaring the omission, and the harder it will be for politicians to break the silence on this most vital of issues.
Please would you write back to me and explain why you and other Liberal Democrat MPs have not established an APPG on the EU, and how you reconcile this with your party’s conference policy.
Yours sincerely,
[Name]
[Address]
