Talk:Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom

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I would like to propose that a large part of the section Euroscepticism#Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom be transferred to this article (they are already close copies of each other), and leave a summary for the UK in the Euroscepticism article, including the already existing

Main article: Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom
-link.

212.102.225.147 16:02, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

How about just deleting the Euroscepticism in the UK section and keeping the general Eurosceptic section as it is an international phenomenon? - user winston1984
Sure, also a good solution. Currently the history section is missing in the Euroscepticism article. - 212.102.225.147 08:10, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Northern Ireland

I have transferred the following from the article. AFAIK Sinn Fein (the largest Nationalist party) is fiercely eurosceptic. I have no idea about the SDLP. All the unionist parties are eurosceptic, so the following para seems very wide of the mark and non-NPOV Sceptic 12:38, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

It is quite a different story in Northern Ireland, where many people (mainly Nationalists) are pro-Europe, due to the same attitude existing in the Republic of Ireland. Many people here would be happy to adopt the Euro and the metric system, due to the main factor as being so close to an area that does.

I haven't been able to find any statement on the EU on Sinn Féin's website, and we should also keep in mind that not always do the stances of parties reflect the stances of the people who vote for them (for instance, not all Sinn Féin and SDLP voters want reunification, as polls attest)... —Nightstallion (?) 11:01, 27 May 2006 (UTC)


Hi sorry I don't know how to edit, this is my first time, so here goes.

"After decades of anti-racist campaigns, it became acceptable again to be against foreigners."

Does this seem POV to anyone else?

"Agitated European politicians regarded the support of Dutch politicians for the anti-European sentiments of their population as an uncooperative Calvinist attitude. Most Dutch people support the European Union, but are against too much power for the European institutions."

Now this has got to be POV. I haven't made any edits to the main article, I want to see what other people think, but there is not one citation in this entire article, and that Calvinist assertion seems to be extremely value laden.

autocratus


oops sorry wrong page


[edit] The term Euroscepticism

There's a lot of laziness witht the term. Indeed there no examination it seems on the origin and developpment of the term.

Whilst I appreciate the terms "Euroscepticism" has become an big-tent term, to include a wide variety of views, it clasically had a much more precise meaning that really should be explored in the article. It originally referred to those who believed in the EU, but were not keen on much or any further European integration, really from around the time of Maastricht, early 1990s). It specifically referred to strand within the Conservative Party.

Euroscepticism did not originally include those who were fundamently opposed to the European project, only those who didn't like the Maastrich Treaty (Treaty on European Union). By this definition, politicans (of the right such as Enoch Powell or the left Tony Benn) would not be considered "Eurosceptic", (scepticism implies some, albeit conditional support for a concept.) UKIP would not be considered Eurosceptic either by this definition. Perhaps the better term for this category of people would be "Anti-European", or perhaps better "Anti European Integration". Classical Euroscepticism is really an ideology of the Thatcherite right. Remember many Thatcherites, (including Thatcher herself) supported Britain's membership of the EC, voted yes in the 1975 referendum and even supported the Single European Act, (which moved more areas of competency to a European Level from the member state more than any other later Treaty). They didn't just support it, but supported it enthusiasticly. However they would see the Single Market as the completion of the European project, and would see not need for the extra elements introduced by Maastricht, e.g. a single currency or a common foreign policy. Many of the anti-Europeans on the left and right of course would have opposed the pre-Masstricht developments also, that is a position quite distinct from a "thus far and no further" view of EU integration.

There has been an intermingling of Euroscpeticism now with Anti-Europeanism. (For example the conservative debate about renegotiating the treaties- was that just code for withdrawal?) And the term is now applied to the those on the left as well as right.

Good points. But who are you?--Shtove 00:17, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] the British press

The section on this has no citations, and the only link is to the EC counter-propaganda webpage. The phenomenon is so widespread I'd have thought there would be many studies/surveys that establish it as fact, and point out the countless examples of anti-europe propaganda in the daily press. Anyone got useful links?--Shtove 20:00, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Nothing on the "metric martyrs"... AnonMoos 18:52, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

There are hectares of it in the press.--Shtove 00:11, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Article intro

The introduction of the article says that Euroscepticism in Britain "has not reduced significantly following UK membership of the Union". Is this the best way of putting it? Arguably two-thirds of Britons were in favour of membership of the Union at the time of the referendum, yet now the figure about one-quarter according to many polls. This rather than Eurosceptism "not reducing", argubly it has significantly increased. The sentence in the introduction suggests that it has stayed steady. TomPhil 14:56, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

  • It's a very badly written sentence, but it actually says that the debate has not reduced rather than the level of euroscepticism. Maybe we can come up with something more encyclopaedic? Sceptic 15:48, 17 April 2007 (UTC)