Looking again at the Cameron/Tusk proposals

It cannot be emphasised too strongly that the proposals which are to be put to the European Council as a result of David Cameron's negotiations are not yet a done deal and that the rush to judgement by both sides about whether what is on the table is a good package or not is somewhat premature.

But the more I look at the detail of the proposals the more I think that they contain some significant improvements and - just as important - if these are adopted they will answer some of the points that the "Leave" campaign is making in their own "Project Fear" tactics about the risks of  a "Remain" vote.

Martin Kettle makes some good points in a Guardian article here in which he says that the UK has made significant progress if these proposals are approved on things that matter to Britain, and that much of the press attack on them has ranged from fallacious to mendacious.

Again, you can read in full Donald Tusk's letter to members of the European Council, and the attachments setting out the proposed basis for a deal, at

http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2016/02/02-letter-tusk-proposal-new-settlement-uk/

I hope those people who are open to argument do read the proposals for themselves instead of listening to all the nonsense being written about them by most newspapers and by the rival "leave" campaigns.

Comments

Jim said…
Chris, I have read them, I have dissected them, I have taken every which way a person ever can do. I am still left with the conclusion we would be better off leaving.

Please credit the public with a little more intelligence than that.
11:08 am
Jim said…
P.S. also remember its 2016, the public can see the information, they can see the facts at the touch of a button.

The Legacy media does not hold the traction it used to, that's why its the Legacy media, not the main stream.
11:10 am
Chris Whiteside said…
Jim, I am not suggesting that it is not possible for a perfectly reasonable person to read the proposals and still think Britain would be better off leaving.

What I am more than a little bit cross about is that much of the MSM is talking about the proposed deal as if it were the kind of purely cosmetic exercise which Wilson went through in the seventies, and in my opinion that is not true.

Fortunately as you rightly say people can now read them for themselves and are not dependent on the MSM - which is why I posted a link encouraging people to do exactly that.

And if having done so the majority of the electorate reach a different conclusion from me, well that's democracy.

Incidentally I still have not made a decision on how to vote yet, and have no intention of doing so until we know

1) the final terms of whatever deal is to be put on the table - after the forthcoming European Council meeting if there is a deal at that meeting, or a subsequent meeting if there is no deal in February, and

2) what the "Leave" camp are putting forward. I don't like either the Norway or WTO options much but if an intelligent case is put for a "Flexcit" proposal that might be much more tempting - especially if the small print of the final form of what is being offered in the event of a "Remain" vote is less satisfactory than I hope it is going to be.
5:46 pm
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