Britain’s membership of the European Union is like being “shackled to a corpse” costing businesses around hundreds of billions of pounds a year, a Conservative MP has said.
David Cameron is under pressure to call a referendum on Europe
Douglas Carswell, MP for Clacton, made the remarks as he put the called on the House of Commons to repeal the laws that took Britain into the EU.
He told fellow MPs that supporting withdrawal is now a “mainstream”, rather than a “maverick” view, because Brussels is too expensive, bureaucratic and interfering.
Mr Carswell is one of a growing band of eurosceptic Conservative MPs putting pressure on David Cameron to call a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU.
The Prime Minister has said he will seek “fresh consent” for a re-negotiated relationship with Europe once it has sorted out its debt and currency problems.
However, Mr Carswell and others are pushing for a re-think now, arguing that being part of the EU has “corroded our democracy”.
“Far from joining an economic powerhouse we’ve shackled ourselves to a corpse,” he said. “Being part of the EU hinders rather than helps us to prosper.
“This is the absurdity. We pay for the privilege of being members of this poverty-producing club.”
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