ONLY the past is certain: whichever future we choose for the UK’s membership of the European Super-State is a ‘leap in the dark’; only by opening the box can anyone know whether Schroedinger’s cat lives.

We have only past history to guide our decision, so it is appropriate to reflect on the observed behaviour of the EU and to compare the histories of its component states with the history of Britain.

The basic principles of Britain’s constitution have endured since the middle of the 12th century (Henry II). No other member state of the EU comes close. Moreover, being ‘unwritten’ (a misnomer, since our constitution is in fact written in the statutes of parliament and judgments of Common Law), it remains flexible enough to adapt to changing circumstances whilst being robust enough to survive assaults by an institutionally arrogant, even when well-intentioned, bureau-cracy.

Key elements of our constitution are 1— freedom under law to do whatever is not explicitly forbidden; 2 — independence of the judiciary; 3 — the presumption of innocence and 4 — the right of an accused person to be faced by his accuser and to cross-examine him. (The last of these has recently been diluted by well-meaning but ill-advised enactments — but that is a long subject in itself).

None of these elements are compatible with European practices, which rely instead on ‘human rights’ — wordy confabulations too rigid to address ludicrous anomalies (eg Abu Qatada).

The history of the European Union has been one of creeping bureaucratic control. It is important to realize that this was the intention of its founders — notably Jean Monnet, a French diplomat and economist. (See http:// eurealist.co.uk/?p=676 for a dissection of the most telling misquotation ascribed to him, viz ‘Europe’s nations should be guided towards the super-state without their people understanding what is happening. This can be accomplished by successive steps each disguised as having an economic purpose but which will eventually and irreversibly lead to federation.’).

The EU was created in 1957 by the Treaty of Rome as an ‘European Economic Community’ (EEC). This morphed in 1967 into the ‘European Community’ (EC) and again in 1992 into the ‘European Union’ (EU).

However little faith I may have in the commitment of any particular British Government to uphold my freedoms as a citizen, I have much less in that of a self-appointed cabal of irremovable bureau-crats in Brussels to do so.

In 1975, lamentably ignorant of the real intentions of Monnet and his henchmen, I was conned into voting for our continued participation in the EEC as a free-trade institution. Not this time!

The EU is a completely different animal: it is wholly incompatible with the constitutional prin-ciples that have served Britain well for nine centuries. The sooner we distance ourselves from its insatiable political maw the better.

Roger W Mathew

Tavistock