Mark Pritchard: Why I left my Government post

Conservative MP for The Wrekin Mark Pritchard explains why he left his Government post:

The majority of people living in the United Kingdom have never had a say on the European Question. Either they weren't born in 1975, the date of the last referendum, or they weren't old enough to vote.

Of the millions who did vote, many feel they've been misled by successive governments – that an Act of Parliament that was sold to them as supporting a pan-European economic area has instead created a Leftist political project, driven by a bankrupt ideology, which continues to erode the UK's independence and global competitiveness.

The state of the eurozone's finances and the over-regulated single market appear to have taught Europe's political elite very little. Instead of learning lessons from a catastrophic one-size-fits-all eurozone monetary policy, they are rushing headlong into a deep and dangerous fiscal union.

A fiscal union supported by a Conservative-led Government. This contrived fiscal compact will do little to address the continent's underlying structural and sovereign debt problems. In fact, it is likely to exacerbate the economic and social disparities that exist between the wealthier northern countries and their poorer southern neighbours.

The project's leaders have for years spoken in grandiose terms of a Europe flowing with milk and honey, but in reality –and in return for the people's trust – they have presided over record unemployment, a decline in hope and scarred national pride.

The UK did not sign up to the fiscal compact. Publicly, the Government says it 'reserves' its position to take legal action should the new measures advantage the eurozone to our detriment. But privately, ministers accept that any legal challenge would be unlikely to succeed.

One senior minister recently told me: "The chances of a European Court ruling in the UK's favour over a measure that would benefit the majority of member states but harm the UK is minimal." That means the Government's 'reserve position' is not worth the paper it is written on. Meanwhile, businesses and jobs suffer.

This is why I resigned this week as deputy chairman of the Conservative Party's International Office – and why the Government must act now to reconfigure our relationship with Europe. It should announce that it will bring forward a referendum on the UK's relationship with the EU within this Parliament. Without this, we will remain anchored to Europe's economic strategic drift and continue to lose our independence.

The question need not be complicated.

For example, it might ask whether voters 'want to be part of a free trading area with Europe – or part of a political union'?

All MPs could be given licence to campaign according to their conscience. This includes Lib Dems, all of whom signed an election manifesto pledging themselves to a referendum if there was a fundamental change in our relationship with Europe.

Fiscal union is a fundamental change – but still a referendum is denied.

There are some in the Conservative leadership who argue that if it weren't for the Lib Dems, the Government would be far more Eurosceptic. The narrative advanced is that, 'if we give it time', a future Conservative 'majority government' will deliver on Europe. But this policy is viewed by an increasing number of MPs, and even by some ministers, as a clumsy attempt to kick the European issue into the long grass.

There is also no guarantee that the Conservatives will win the next General Election. There is not even a guarantee that we will emerge as the largest party.

Add to this the strong possibility that the Lib Dems will try to scupper the constituency boundary changes in the House of Lords in late 2013, and the likelihood of a working Tory majority diminishes further.

The pundits predict Nick Clegg will lose his seat and his most likely successor as party leader is party president Tim Farron. His arrival would be a Coalition-breaker.

If we accept Downing Street's working assumption that an outright Tory majority at the next General Election is 'highly unlikely', any promise of a robust Eurosceptic policy afterwards is for the birds.

Historians will view the Coalition years, 2010-2015, as a squandered opportunity for the Government to have put the United Kingdom first.

See also:

• Tory policies prompt Shropshire MP Mark Pritchard to resign

• Mark Pritchard quits in Europe row