mr president our federalist friends should not try and recruit mrs thatcher to their cause
she would be appalled at the developments that have taken place in the european union
we have heard that symbols are important yet we are constantly reassured that the european union has no ambition to become a state despite every resolution and piece of legislation through this parliament taking us further in that direction
of course the outstanding example of this was the constitution
this was rejected and then re-emerged as the treaty of lisbon
in order to try and sell the treaty of lisbon national negotiators decided that parts of the constitution that could be interpreted as impinging on statehood such as the flag and the hymn should be removed
indeed british government ministers used as a selling point when they were trying to sell the treaty of lisbon to our people that it was somehow different to the constitution
my constituents in the east of england do not want a constitution they do not want the treaty of lisbon and they certainly do not want a state called europe
i think it is an affront to them to try and introduce or give official character to these symbols
