No British policy has ever been set in stone.?? Times change,
allegiances change.?? As we leave the 20th century, much
British political energy is being taken up by all parties on
debating whether or not we enter the European single
currency, the euro.?? I believe that in not many decades from
now,? historians will view this brief period as an aberration
driven by idealism and a grasp of a reality that was already
twenty years out of date.??? I believe that twenty or thirty
years from now, far from debating the euro, we might well be
out of the European Union altogether and into something far
more prosperous and constructive.

On the last Thursday of October this year,? I will present a
unique Bill before the House of Commons.??? It will propose
that a Commission be set up to decide whether Britain’s best
interests really do lie with the European Union or with the
North American Free Trade Area instead.

I am no "Little Englander" motivated solely by academic
questions of sovereignty.???? I want what is best for the
economy and people of our country.??? I want to see
manufacturing jobs being created in the west midlands;??? not
lost because of the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s obsessive
and perverted view of European economics.??? His dictating
inflation targets to the Bank of England in the vainglorious
hope of synchronising our economy for the first time in
decades with that of Europe’s is destroying jobs and our
nation’s prosperity.

As we enter a new millennium,?? we Parliamentarians should
not be blinkered in our outlook.??? Who knows where Britain’s
best economic interests might lie in the 21st Century???? At
the moment,? most MPs want to remain in the European
Union while a minority would pull us out all together to stand
alone.?? I believe that there is a third option that could be of
greater economic benefit to the wealth and well-being of the
people of the United Kingdom.

Britain is a global trading nation and shouldn’t set its sights
on Europe alone.??? I know.???? Before entering Parliament in
1992,??? I ran a broadcast electronics group operating in 48
countries across the globe.???? When Britain entered the
Common Market in the 1970s we had no option.?? America
wasn’t interested in us.?? Poor communications hindered
trans-Atlantic trade and Europe would have imposed trade
barriers and other sanctions against us if we hadn’t joined.

But times have changed.??? It is generally cheaper now to
phone the U.S. than? France??? -??? and just as easy with no
satellite delays.??? Container freighting costs to New Jersey
are now similar to those to Hamburg.?? Our language is
common as is our corporate and commercial law.?? Is it
surprising that British firms are the largest holders of capital
in the United States and vice versa???? And three million
British tourists vote with their feet each year by choosing to
holiday in America rather than Europe.

Technology and distance are no longer the issue.???? Nor are
economic sanctions, thanks to the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade and the formation of the World Trade
Organisation.??? Economic and social compatibility are what
matter now;??? not merely the accident of geography.?
Europe cannot refuse to trade with us.?? After all, they trade
with America now and it isn’t a member of the E.U.

Last year,? Gordon Brown listed the five main criteria by
which the Treasury would judge whether or not to enter the
European single currency.??? The euro fails all five tests and
is likely to continue to do so because the British economy is
permanently "out of synch" with that of Europe.???
Interestingly, the US dollar meets all of the Chancellor’s
criteria.??? While I am certainly not suggesting that the dollar
replace sterling,? the question has to be asked:??? Why
should Britain even be considering the euro, a second best
alternative?

And if the euro is incompatible, then the European
economies are too for the currency of a nation or bloc simply
reflects its economy.???? It therefore follows that we should
consider still closer economic ties with the United States.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives,? Newt
Gingrich,? has just invited us to join the North American Free
Trade Area.???? And now,? Australia and New Zealand are
interested in tightening trade agreements with the United
States too.

In 1995,? Malcolm Turnbull, the Australian constitutional
lawyer said of Britain’s decision to join the European Union:?
?? "I think that was a terrible mistake for Britain. Why should
you at this point in history, when technology has made
distance more irrelevant than ever, suddenly choose to
become a political part of Europe???? Technology has made
geographical proximity irrelevant, and geographical proximity
was the only reason for being part of Europe.? Britain would
have been much wiser focusing on and developing closer
relations with those countries with which it really did have a
lot in common in terms of language, background, human
relationships and institutions. And those countries plainly
were the Anglo-Saxon countries – the Old Commonwealth
and the USA".???????

Life has moved on from the European referendum of the 70s.
?? Technology and opportunity are now opening a window of
opportunity which we dare not ignore.??? Members of
Parliament are stewards of our nation’s future.??? No avenue
towards our nation’s well-being and prosperity should be
ignored simply in the name of short term political
expedience.

I can envisage a golden economic web spanning the globe
linking Britain, the United States, Canada and other
like-minded and equally wealthy countries like Australia and
New Zealand.???? It would create a market 20% larger than
the European Union though Britain would still be able to trade
with the EU.??? It’s now just plain old fashioned to think of
Europe alone.

Because this English-speaking market would not be
burdened with unnecessary regulations and all are of similar
incomes per capita,? unlike Spain, Portugal or Greece whom
we currently have to subsidise,??? Britain would not have to
pay the multi billion pound membership fees we currently pay
the European Union.??? Just think about how many extra
hospitals and schools that money could build. How many
more billions must we pay in the future when Europe is
enlarged to include Poland, Hungary, and the Czech
Republic?

My vision of the future is not driven by negative
Euro-scepticism.?? It is driven by the possibilities that a
fortunate nexus of American and Australian political will
combined with changes in technology and international treaty
are now opening up for us.????? This new possibility must be
examined fully.?? It would be arrogant and a betrayal not to do
so.