So Cameron stood his ground and said “No”.
What does this mean? Nobody knows. There are some who believe this is the best thing since sliced bread, some who think he has failed Britain miserably and Nick Clegg who just doesn’t know which way to swing.
But in reality nobody knows what the impact of Cameron’s decision will be; not the economists; not the finance ministers; not the politicians and not the general public. They can only speculate as Cameron clearly says “We are not in this together,” to Europe.
I feel a sense of pride in Cameron for standing up to the rest of Europe and not just following suit. However, I am not so sure that this was best thing for Britain. I feel that Cameron has appeased his back-benchers rather than put the national interest first. I am sure they was a compromise to be had here without loosing our position at these meetings but think that Cameron had to prove himself to his party and they only way he could do that was to say no unless he got a deal protecting Britain’s financial services.
He seems to be receiving overwhelming support from the British public. Some of whom think he has done the right thing. However, it does seem that a lot of this support is coming from those who still believe that Britain still has imperialist powers. We live in 2011, not 1960 and if we have lived without Europe in the past, doesn’t mean we can successfully do it again. Times have changed and we must move with them.
I do hope that this “No” won’t be regretted.
Bunty
