Author Archives: Giles Goodall

Giles Goodall is a Lib Dem European Parliamentary Candidate for South East England.
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Opinion: Referendum debate is a sideshow: the countdown to Britain’s real EU vote starts today

By Giles Goodall | Wed 22nd May 2013 - 4:18 pm

In or out? With or without? Will they, won’t they? The sound and fury over a referendum on Britain’s EU membership has become almost deafening over the past few days. It is a confused debate driven by a small and virulent band of anti-Europeans. Their success lies in a dual strategy of shackling the issue to others of much wider public concern (such as immigration), while simultaneously blackmailing one of Britain’s great pro-European parties (the Conservatives) into adopting ever more anti-European positions – against their own traditions, intuition and better judgement.

Around Europe, the ‘British question’ is also furrowing brows – …

Opinion: Ironically, the rise of UKIP makes Britain a more European place

By Giles Goodall | Fri 3rd May 2013 - 7:00 pm

UKIP’s relative success in the English local elections and South Shields by-election this week has met with predictable reactions across the political spectrum: from copycat politics and jealousy on the Tory right, to handwringing and downright despair on the centre left.

But while UKIP has succeeded in hoovering up disenchanted Tories by the thousand, its appeal is clearly much broader. In fact, the rise of UKIP’s populist anti-politics replicates a pattern played out across Europe since the crisis hit, from the Danish People’s Party to Italy’s Beppe Grillo. Ironically, with …

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged denmark, eu, europe, featured, local elections 2013 and ukip | 25 Comments

Opinion: Freedom to travel and work is the essence of the EU and we should embrace it

By Giles Goodall | Wed 27th March 2013 - 1:20 pm

Another week, another attack on EU citizens living and working in the UK. This time it didn’t come from that familiar old grouch Nigel Farage, but from the Prime Minister himself. In a speech which was clearly playing catch-up with UKIP after the Eastleigh by-election, David Cameron ratcheted up the rhetoric, calling for new curbs on the rights of EU migrants to claim British benefits and social housing. He wants to stop our benefit system being a ‘soft touch’ and end the ‘something for nothing culture’, in language which could have been copy-pasted from any front page of …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged david cameron, eu migration and immigration | 22 Comments

Opinion: Dead parrot bites back – again

By Giles Goodall | Sat 2nd March 2013 - 5:20 pm

At the Conservative Party conference in Bournemouth in 1990, Margaret Thatcher famously used Monty Python’s ‘dead parrot’ sketch to mock the Liberal Democrats’ newly-designed bird of liberty. After a series of name changes and a derisory 6% of the vote at the European elections in 1989, the Lib Dems had been virtually written off. But the Eastbourne by-election gave the party the opportunity it needed to defy its media critics and get back into the game. This week, the dead parrot bit back – again.

Mike Thornton’s stunning …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged eastleigh by-election | 16 Comments

Opinion: Cameron is wishing for an EU that already exists

By Giles Goodall | Fri 25th January 2013 - 11:21 am

The prime objective of David Cameron’s Europe speech was always to placate anti-European critics on his right flank rather than to set out a bold vision in the national interest. And in that sense, his ‘red meat’ pledge of an in/out referendum after 2015 may succeed in sating his own party’s Eurosceptic appetite, at least in the short term. But there are at least three reasons why his strategy is not only mistaken, but risks deeply damaging the national interest.

First, while the ‘repatriationist’ wing of Cameron’s own party may be satisfied with the promise of a renegotiation of as yet …

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged european union, single market and sovereignty | 12 Comments

The Eurosceptic tide is turning. Lib Dems must be in the vanguard

By Giles Goodall | Fri 11th January 2013 - 10:21 am

We have become used in recent months to unrelentingly bad news about our relationship with Europe. ‘UKIP now the third party’, ‘Majority would say no to EU’ and ‘UK heads for the Brexit’ have become commonplace headlines. But while the current polls and general debate are still far from positive, several recent developments suggest the tide is starting to turn on the antis – and are enough to give cheer to pro-Europeans from all sides.

First – in case you missed it – the Obama administration has made clear in no uncertain terms to its concern about the UK’s Eurosceptic …

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged barack obama, european union and ukip | 40 Comments

Opinion: Norway? No way! Why a life on Europe’s periphery is not an option for Britain

By Giles Goodall | Sun 23rd December 2012 - 4:35 pm

Norweigan coast In Britain’s recent EU debate, it’s clear that the anti-Europeans have been doing most of the running. When they’re not basing their arguments on wholesale lies, they fall back on a mixture of half-truths, assumptions and wishful thinking. One of the best examples is the common claim that Britain can leave the EU but keep trading with the Single Market, ’just like Norway’. A have-your-cake-and-eat-it solution that sounds like the best of both worlds. They highlight the non-EU country’s considerable oil wealth – irrelevant to the membership debate – to drive home their point.

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged european union and Norway | 24 Comments

Three cheers for the unsung heroes of Brussels

By Giles Goodall | Fri 16th November 2012 - 11:52 am

A new survey by European news portal Euractiv has ranked Sharon Bowles MEP as the most influential Brit in EU policy-making, eight places ahead of David Cameron and thirty-three above Nigel Farage. The UK40 survey also features Lib Dem MEPs Andrew Duff and Sir Graham Watson in the top sixteen. National politicians such as Cameron, William Hague and Nick Clegg make the top twenty, but often lose out in the ranking to less well known Brits in the EU institutions.

Posted in Europe / International | Tagged ALDE, andrew duff, europe, graham watson and sharon bowles | Leave a comment

Opinion: A storm in a jam jar – my top 5 Euromyths

By Giles Goodall | Mon 29th October 2012 - 11:53 am

Those of us familiar with the EU are used to its complicated processes, obscure acronyms and often unfathomable procedures. We sometimes forget that it is still a hybrid project that no-one has ever tried before: a multinational, multilingual experiment in international cooperation where countries decide by common accord to pool decision-making in certain areas and under certain conditions for their own mutual benefit.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged european union | 30 Comments

Opinion: The Tories: tough on Europe, soft on crime

By Giles Goodall | Tue 9th October 2012 - 10:43 am

The news that Sussex teacher Jeremy Forrest has been arrested in Bordeaux on suspicion of abducting pupil Megan Stammers is a timely reminder of the value of EU cooperation to fight crime. The maths teacher, who now faces imminent extradition, joins a long list of suspects caught with a European arrest warrant and swiftly returned to face justice in the UK. But the Conservatives’ dogmatic opposition to all things European is now putting the safety of Britons at risk.

The European arrest warrant, in operation since 2004, has succeeded in cutting average extradition times in the EU from one …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged crime, europe, european arrest warrant and sarah ludford | 10 Comments

Opinion: Europe’s moving ahead. Are we part of it or not?

By Giles Goodall | Thu 13th September 2012 - 12:26 pm

In his annual State of the Union address on Wednesday, European Commission President Barroso issued a clarion call for a ‘federation of nation states’ to take on the challenges facing Europe. The only way forward is more unity and more European integration, said Barroso. But this must be accompanied by more democracy – placing the European Parliament in a central role – and subsidiarity – concentrating EU action on the real issues that need to be dealt with at European level.

There is much for Liberal Democrats to welcome in the speech. The emphasis on the European Parliament, national …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged europe and jose manuel barosso | 45 Comments

Opinion: Brussels vs. the banksters

By Giles Goodall | Sat 28th July 2012 - 1:21 pm

European Parliament building

Almost no-one in the UK would these days dispute the fact that the country’s banking sector needs a serious overhaul to correct the runaway behaviour which helped nudge Britain (and others) into the financial crisis. The Liberal Democrats have rightly been most persistent in demanding reforms, in particular a break-up of retail and casino banking, as recommended by the independent Vickers Inquiry.

The latest scandal about fixing the benchmark Libor interest rate plumbs new depths – even by the standards of Britain’s banks. Here were …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged banking, europe and libor | 14 Comments

Opinion: Standing by hard-won freedoms helps remind us what the EU is all about

By Giles Goodall | Thu 19th July 2012 - 11:56 am

European Commission President Barroso yesterday used uncharacteristically tough language to condemn the current political turmoil in Romania. Calling for “urgent action” by the country to win back the confidence of its EU partners, Barroso talked about the “exceptional events” which have been “a major source of concern to the EU” and “shaken our trust.” Barroso also announced that the EU was extending a special system of checks on Romania’s respect for the rule of law and judicial independence, instigated after the country joined the EU five years ago.

The unprecedented language from the EU follows a political crisis which has …

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged europe, josé manuel barroso and romania | 2 Comments

Social mobility: is the Coalition doing enough to encourage it?

Stephen Tall asks: "Did Nate Silver write in vain?"

Nick Clegg: "Of course the EU has to change"

"Mad, swivel-eyed loons": a top Tory on the Tories

Author Archives: Giles Goodall

Opinion: Referendum debate is a sideshow: the countdown to Britain’s real EU vote starts today

Opinion: Ironically, the rise of UKIP makes Britain a more European place

Opinion: Freedom to travel and work is the essence of the EU and we should embrace it

Opinion: Dead parrot bites back – again

Opinion: Cameron is wishing for an EU that already exists

The Eurosceptic tide is turning. Lib Dems must be in the vanguard

Opinion: Norway? No way! Why a life on Europe’s periphery is not an option for Britain

Three cheers for the unsung heroes of Brussels

Opinion: A storm in a jam jar – my top 5 Euromyths

Opinion: The Tories: tough on Europe, soft on crime

Opinion: Europe’s moving ahead. Are we part of it or not?

Opinion: Brussels vs. the banksters

Opinion: Standing by hard-won freedoms helps remind us what the EU is all about

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Social mobility: is the Coalition doing enough to encourage it?

Stephen Tall asks: "Did Nate Silver write in vain?"

Nick Clegg: "Of course the EU has to change"

"Mad, swivel-eyed loons": a top Tory on the Tories

Author Archives: Giles Goodall

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