Tories leave mainstream for extreme
March 13, 2009 12:00 PM
Originally published by Sarah Ludford MEP
Originally published by Sarah Ludford MEP
The Tories have decided that their MEPs will after the June Euro-elections leave the centre-right grouping in the European Parliament, the European Peoples Party (EPP) to which the parties of both German Chancellor Merkel and French President Sarkozy belong.
The Tories claim that differences over European integration make it impossible for them to stay in the EPP, which is the biggest group in the European Parliament. They will hunt around for other rightwing parties to link up with, but they then risk association with nationalist and even racist political forces.
Demonstrating immediately how cut off they are from the mainstream, they then proceeded to vote against taking action to tackle tax havens in a resolution on a European economic plan to get out of recession.
Liberal Democrat MEP for London Sarah Ludford said:
"The Tories, who within the EPP have some influence, are now headed down a blind alley of isolation and reactionary extremism, preferring narrow ideological purity to working with a broad range of allies. They are flying in the face of the reality that only European cooperation can help us face up to global economic and environmental challenges."
"And in the midst of a global recession which is leaving hard working families struggling to make ends meet and ordinary taxpayers bailing out bankers, the Tories are choosing to protect the fatcats who want to dodge paying their fair share."
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