A Shining Symbol of Real Power

Anyone who has not yet done so should read Boris Johnson's brilliantly written article in today's Daily Telegraph. Boris has been to Brussels to visit the European Parliament and draws a vivid contrast between the glittering glass towers, the confident young MEPs with their vast salaries and huge expenses claims, the real sense of power that emanates from its walls, and the sad, provincial, emasculated halls of Westminster, where our MPs, bruised from the expenses scandal, cower beneath the whips, wondering what they can do to justify their existence. For it is a fact that there is very little they can do. The balance of power has shifted and the laws of this country are no longer determined by Parliament at Westminster. We have no defence against the vested interests of certain European governments, intent on damaging (for instance) UK financial services, on which we depend so much for our prosperity. We have no means of changing or improving the amendments that Euro-MPs will make to the crucial directives which are in the pipeline. Our elected MPs are powerless, our Parliament an irrelevance, and once the so-called Treaty of Lisbon (in reality the European Constitution) is signed, we might as well not bother.