Junk Status Europe to be have lost everything. Prime Minister David Cameron did a marvellous move and we will keep our AAA status.

"If Cameron remains committed to EU membership, this will push more Tories into the arms of Ukip and the BNP."

Correction: more Tories into UKIP and more Labourites into the BNP. The BNP has no appeal to Tories. They are a national socialist party.

The Euro summit in Brussels has indeed been a calmity for Britain. The day before the summit, there was a news item on TV which related to the PM Question Time. A Tory back-bencher stood up and urged David Cameron to show some Bulldog Spirit at the conference in Brussels the very next day.
But what exactly is this “Bulldog Spirit”? Perhaps it’s distilled dog’s piss. If so, I can readily imagine going into an off-license and saying : “I’d like a bottle of 15 year old Bulldog Spirit please”. The sales assistant might well reply: “ Sorry sir, we’re clean out of the 15 year old. Would you like the Canine Reserve edition instead?”.
Or perhaps “Bulldog Spirit” isn’t quite that up-market. Maybe it is slang for a cocktail of Cider and Brasso, much favoured by winos around these parts. In fact, come to think of it, I read in the local paper that a wino was arrested in the local park for being drunk and disorderly. When he was brought before the local magistrates he was very contrite, claiming that “Bulldog Spirit” had got the better of him. But when he threatened to veto the court proceedings, the magistrates gave him a stern rebuke, with the result that he looked extremely foolish. Well, if that’s what Bulldog Spirit does to a man, then I want none of it.
And so it came to pass that last Thursday, David Cameron, imbued with the spirit of the British Bulldog went to plead his case in Brussels. But the bulldog did not bark. In fact, the best that it could do was to issue forth a rather timid MEE-EOW and Cameron went away empty handed.
But none of this surprises me in the least. Cameron is a good deal more fond of Claret than he is Bulldog Spirit, so he must have known that this was Mission Impossible. He was basically asked to defend the false patriots of the Square Mile, who claim to represent the national interest, when in fact it is plain to the common man that they are only interested in stuffing their greedy coffers with yet more cash. This put Cameron in an untenable position because it is now crystal clear that the economy is completely out of kilter. As Vince Cable famously put it: “We need more real engineering and less financial engineering”. This implies a rather different agenda than that which was peddled by the Eurosceptics in the run-up to the Brussels summit last week. So my advice to David Cameron is that he should stick to the Claret and leave the Bulldog Spirit well alone, otherwise he will find himself punished in the court of public opinion for his resolute folly.
Strange then, that last Friday I saw a Tory back-bencher on the TV news, boasting triumphantly that David Cameron was full of Bulldog Spirit and that the veto had been wielded in the national interest. Sadly, I can only observe that politicians who are punch-drunk with power seldom make good choices for the well-being of the nation.

Mike S

Roland Nelles writing in Spiegel Online "Europe has woken up today rubbing its eyes in disbelief; The European Union as we know it is in the process of disintegrating. The biggest post war project of a continent united in peace failed last night n Brussels, in these times of adversity, Europe is splitting up."

Guidio Westerwelle, the German Foreign Minister admitted the deal was substandard and the reluctance of Britain and OTHERS to play along needn't hinder the other EU states making progess.

Peer Steinbruck of the SDP said Merkel's dithering has left Europe with a choice between "bad solutions." and the Brussels deal was not fit for purpose."

Daniele

Yes sadly Cameron is out of his depth but I'm quite surprised at the feeble attempts by Merkel and her poodle to do anything, anything to re-assure the markets about this feeble euro that was founded on lies.

I wonder what Gordon Brown would have done, I would guess the same.

The German coup d’état is perfect: not tanks, not weapons & no casualties except for the fact that 26 nations are signing a blank check for "not knowing what is ahead” and greatly jeopardizing their national sovereignty for supranationalism! Small countries will have to submit to the “EU monster” but what’s going to happen to France? As a French citizen I am ashamed at Mr. Sarkosy’s behavior towards Mr. Cameron, but what can you expect from a blind leader such as Mr. Sarkosy adroitly being stage-managed by “Madame Non” Angela Merkel adeptly manipulating everybody and covering up “with France” in order to make the “German made financial medicine” easier to digest! German Supranationalism is marching on and Germany will achieve its geopolitical goal of controlling all the member states of the union with “German order and discipline”! It is not “noblesse oblige” but Euro obliges us! German are reappearing under the cover of the EU smokescreen! 60 years ago we intended Germany to be tamed and disciplined within a revitalized Europe and already 1951 saw the birth of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)! “Germany and France were the drivers behind the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the precursor to the European Union. The ECSC was the first supranational organisation, established in April 1951 by six European states. It created a common market for coal and steel which it regulated. This set a vital precedent for the steady erosion of national sovereignty, a process that continues today: http://bit.ly/sixQqs , Congratulation to Britain & Mr. Cameron for saying no to Germany! Bravo and I wish the others would not be blind to the fact that they have already sold their national sovereignty to the EU i.e. Germany.

M. Wenzl:"How would trade be impacted if the UK actually left the EU?"

The honest answer is that nobody knows for sure. It is one of those Rumsfeldian "unknown unknowns".

However, I think that it would depend on three things:
(1) what kind of trading terms the UK could negotiate with the EU after leaving
(2) what happens to the value of the Pound on exit from the EU ( if it declined, our exports would be cheaper but the cost of imports would rise)
(3) the cost of doing business in Europe would likely increase, as we would not enjoy the same privileges in terms of movement of people, resources, etc.

So on balance, i think it would be fair to say that trade would not get any easier for us.

Euro-sceptics would argue that we would have greater freedom to trade outside of the EU. However, this is a deluded viewpoint because the UK is a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), so we still have to abide by the rules:
http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/countries_e/united_kingdom_e.htm

So leaving the EU would not give us unfettered license to trade on whatever tems we please.

No doubt if we did leave the EU, the petty eurosceptics would then turn their attention to membership of the WTO, arguing that this is tanatmount to a loss of sovereignty. I forsee them demonstrating their Bulldog Spirit by demanding repatriation of powers from the WTO, perhaps even demanding a referendum on Britain's membership of the WTO. And all this done to the background of a rowsing chorus of "Britannia Rules the Waves".

Regarding your assertion that "..major trade barriers don't really exist anymore ..", this is incorrect. If it were true then the WTO would not exist and there would be no need for marathon sessions of trade negotiations, like the so-called Doha round.

M Wenzl: One consequence of us leaving the EU (assuming we rejoined EFTA, so we could be part of the wider European Economic Area) would be a loss of sovereignty.

Norway and Switzerland, which Eurosceptics talk about a lot, both have to follow the EU's single market rules for anything they export into the single market, but don't get a say in how those rules are set.

Of course, for domestic trade rather than exports, the UK could lower safety standards or change labelling requirements to furlongs, drams and pennyweights, but since you can't then send those products to the EU without metric markings, why would anyone bother?

I suspect that the real concern of many sceptics on the right is employment law (human rights law is non-EU so we'd still be covered by that). Outside the EU, large swathes of employment and health and safety rules could be changed, naturally the vision being that this would be in the direction of less regulation rather than more.

If we went right down the "no immigrants, no trade" route and pulled out of the EEA as well (allowing us to block immigration from the EU) that's the point at which 1m Brits living and working in the EU get their residency and working rights removed, and shipped off back to England. Bye Costa del Sol, hello Costa Coffee on Widnes High Street.

john henry

I rather think it's you that deluded if news reports coming out of Germany are anything to go by.

What reports are those Stuart?

Let's be clear to all it may concern.

Britain saved Europe from Germany in 1945

Europe choose Germany over Britain 2011.

Answer to Britains problems unleash the financial records for Europes gravy train. Let's see the results to the expenses of Europes MEP's and their offices.

Then let's see Europe tremble.

For those who care about Britains interest, liberal,socialist, tory or otherwise.

Pay it forward

Politico: Love it! Very amusing
Seriously though, the article is right. Things are a terrible mess for Britain. Cameron has well and truly messed up. He needs to backtrack but I'm just not sure he could get away with. If he does, he's toast in his own party. If he doesn't, Britain is toast. What a dilemna.....
I think the great tragedy of this is that Nick Clegg had a chance to stop this and failed. It's too late now unless he plans on resigning. He loves his ministerial car too much.

http://representingthemambo.wordpress.com/2011/12/10/the-eu-veto-the-fal...

'A new treaty was not decided here, only the principals'
'Angela Merkel won a treaty that may never be ratified'
'treaty change is going to happen anyway'.

Reading the above quotes, no wonder Cameron didn't sign up to the hot air of the might be, maybe!

Why are europe and even Ireland so fed up with Britain over this?
Because they can't believe we are leaving the euro disaster zone, while they have to go ahead with it. Otherwise, why would it matter so much to them. Is it because they get more out of it with us in, then without?

Well at least the veto has woken all the euro governments up. Just read the foreign newspapers. Yesterday it was all about cameron. Today they are all pleading to have us back in on their farce. Even on german tv, old Wolfgang, saying we must come back. The irish won't wear the new treaty, but are blaming us for the veto, rather than themselves for staying! Daft.
Sarky may be signing france up to something he won't be elected in to see or be able to do! Let the circus continue. I like watching from the outside looking in.

Also, we are still a member of the euro disater zone. So nothing has changed. It's just that the others are fed up having to tell their voters the truth.
The deal won't go ahead. We will actually be stronger to negotiate if we want, having been proved right.

Lady J, England makes up 85% of the electorate. There are more people living here in Kent than there are in Wales.

we've never been taken seriously anyway and Labour obliged by signing away more powers which made us weaker not stronger.

Cameron showed he got balls which is more than I can say about Ed and his milliwagon.

At the end of the day this means nothing, we're still in it, the eurozone is still in meltdown. Cameron has won some voters back and we will survive like we have been doing ever since it began.

Other countries signed up to the new pact only because they have no choice! Which ever route they take they will go down so why not go down with the mass? The UK will go down for sure thanks for the massive deficit that Labour has left us.