Four goals scored by setting up new regulatory agencies to supervise national regulators—one each for insurance, banking and securities markets, another to ensure financial stability...Two more points for pushing through an increase in the EU budget in the face of cuts in member state spending, and for granting Olli Rehn, EU commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, the power to review national budgets and to impose the eurocracy's notion of acceptable deficit limits.Despite today's Telegraph reporting that the coalition is pressing ahead with a “referendum lock”, Stelzer is clear in his analysis:
Mr. Osborne roared loudly but carried a twig. His boss, the prime minister, promised to fight tooth and claw to prevent any further transfer of British sovereignty to the EU; he now stands toothless and declawed.In other words, that sovereignty horse has already bolted thus rendering the 'lock' redundant. But it is this paragraph that really stands out:
What is a surprise is that [Lib Dem] coalition partners also aim to cut the City down to size. Leading Tories tell me that the financial sector bulks too large in the UK economy, creating excessive macroeconomic volatility. That view spawns a host of misbegotten policies, including the decisions to raise the effective marginal tax rate to 52%, and to subsidize economic development in low- or no-growth areas of the country. Why anyone would believe it good policy to attack an industry in which Britain has a clear competitive advantage remains a mystery.At first I thought I had misread that paragraph. But no, leading Tories do actually want to reduce the size of the City which provides nearly 14% of total Government tax receipts, and are happy for a foreign Government to carry out the process for them.
There's only one conclusion left. The Tory party has passed on. This party is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to meet its maker...It is an ex-party.
