Britannist

It was claimed earlier this week in the thread in this section of the forum titled "UKIP, English Democrats and Liberals - agree" that the Liberal Party (not to be confused with the Liberal 'Democrats') favours quitting the EU. A spokesman from the Liberal Party addressed last weekend's English Democrat Party conference at Leicester.

Quite understandably, there is great interest in this claim (that the Liberal Party is now anti-EU) on this anti-EU forum. However, despite my repeated requests, no evidence in writing to back up the claim that the Liberal Party is anti-EU has been put forward.

It seems one person on the forum (who supports the claim that the Liberal Party is anti-EU) might be quoting selectively from the Liberal Party statement on the EU (a statement which appears on the Liberal Party official website).

The words "The Liberal Party opposes the EU as presently contituted" have been quoted from that website. Those words are in their statement of policy on the EU but it also says in the same statement (on the Liberal Party website) that the Liberal Party wants to "reform the EU from within." In other words, the Liberal Party wants the UK to remain in the EU.

In the section of the Liberal Party website titled “Our Policies” (sub-section title “European Union”) it stated at 6.12 pm on 20.9.2007 "The Liberal Party opposes the European Union as currently constituted. In particular we oppose the concept of a Single European Currency, harmonisation of taxes and any move towards a Single European Army. The Liberal Party seeks to reform the European Union from within and recognises that the enlargement of the EU will have a substantial impact in stimulating trade and prosperity, will protect democracy and human rights and has already made a significant contribution to political stability and international security in Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. We call for a new and fully democratic structure under the control of the European Parliament. We require the adoption of a role which would guarantee human rights and the freedom of movement of people, ideas and goods, would act to save the environment, arbitrate in disputes and would encourage the separate nations to work together in matters of foreign policy, defence and overseas aid. The Liberal Party supports the calls for a referendum to be held on the proposed new EU Constitution. The proposals contained in the Draft Constitution are inimical to the Liberal Party concept of a Commonwealth of Europe.”

The Liberal Party quite clearly currently supports the EU, the EU ‘Parliament’, EU enlargement and thinks enlargement will stimulate trade and political stability. The Liberal Party also wants the EU to have a role in human rights, the environment, defence, foreign policy and overseas aid. In other words it supports the status quo.

The Liberal Party (according to the official Liberal Party website today) is against the EU Constitution and wants a referendum on it and it opposes an EU army, the euro and tax harmonisation.

If the Liberal Party is now anti-EU, it must be a very recent policy change and I would expect the Liberal Party to update the above-quoted Liberal Party website statement quite soon.

At this time of writing, there is no written evidence that the Liberal Party favours EU withdrawal (the claim that it does, as I wrote earlier, having been made in the "UKIP, English Democrats and Liberals - agree" thread in this section of the forum).

eublues

Liberal Party website says they believe in "co-operating with other countries to build a United Europe". Pretty unambiguous really.

Johnny Hates Jazz

Well it will be pretty exciting when you see Steve Radford - President of the Liberal Party, speaking on 18DoughtyStreet.

He had his own speech
&
Took part in "Question Time"

On both occassions he made it VERY clear that the Liberal Party is Euro-Sceptic.

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British or English - Time to decide

Independent UKIP

So merely being Eurosceptic they do not support withdrawal from the EU and/or are willing to countenance staying in?

Britannist

Kentishman - you made the claim earlier this week (in another thread in this section of the forum) that the Liberal Party favoured "immediate" withdrawal from the EU (you did not refer to "eurosceptic").

Being eurosceptic (as you refer to above) is not the same as being anti-EU.

The Liberal Party website quite clearly states that the party is pro-EU (it favours the EU, the EU 'Parliament', EU expansion and EU involvement in human rights and foreign affairs).