cunningtitle
RSS FeedOptimism and Euroscepticism
General elections tend to be won by the more optimistic parties, or more accurately, governments only change when the opposition is particularly optimistic. Think back to the campaigning of 2010 and the slogans of the Conservatives, and you might remember phrases such as “I’ll cut the deficit, not the NHS” – certainly a defensive slogan, which might be seen as a reminder of the necessary consequences of cutting the deficit. It has been argued that nobody won the 2010 election – Labour lost it.
The public inevitably like optimism in politicians, particularly when it is contrasted with the “doom and gloom” of 24 hour news channels. So it’s interesting to see what’s being said around the EU veto.
A majority of the criticism of the Prime Minister revolves around isolation and loss of influence, but the eurosceptics are for the most part keeping quiet. Despite reports that they are happy with Cameron’s veto, it would be quite a stretch to accuse them of gloating.
One of the most prominent eurosceptics, Daniel Hannan MEP, has written an article in the Daily Mail about the current arguments between europhiles and eurosceptics. What struck me most about the article was the final few paragraphs:
We can be a friend and sponsor to European integration, but our place is in the wider world, exploiting the growing markets of developing and Anglosphere nations, rediscovering the global vocation which our parents took for granted.
We are tied to peoples on every continent by custom and law, by affinity and affection, by blood and speech. Let us raise our eyes to those older and more distant horizons.
This is remarkably optimistic language which wouldn’t be out of place in an election campaign, and stands out amongst talk of the collapse of the Eurozone. We may be about to see a dramatic shift in tone from those keen to repatriate powers from the EU, drawing large numbers of voters with them.