‘Do you wish Britain could have a sensible debate about Europe? Yes/No?’

When Britain last celebrated a Diamond Jubilee, we had a Conservative prime minister heading a coalition with the Liberals (or at least Liberal Unionists) and pursuing a policy of ‘splendid isolation’ – essentially keeping his distance from Europe. Little over a century later and Lord Salisbury’s successor seems intent on doing the same. I suppose that is the point of conservatism. But Europe is now in a period of profound change and Britain must not remain on the sidelines.

In an interview in January, Angela Merkel commented that the euro crisis was driving the eurozone countries closer together such that ‘Europe is domestic policy’ for those sharing the single currency. Though that remark was leapt on by eurosceptics, in the context of a move towards fiscal union for the eurozone it was really no more than a statement of fact.

Delivering a more integrated eurozone within the European Union will probably require treaty changes – it isn’t clear what is on the agenda as far as the broader EU is concerned, but David Cameron’s Eurosceptic backbenchers have seen their chance.

‘Out of the eurozone misery will come the perfect opportunity’, as one Tory put it cynically, pushing an agenda of Europe as a deregulated market and little else. But even some critical friends of Europe are grasping this moment to turn back the clock. David Owen, speaking in the House of Lords was spot on in encouraging more active engagement by Cameron (‘We are part of these treaties. They belong to us as much as to everybody else’) ‘but in posing the question: ‘What is the minimum that we want out of the European Union?’, what sounds like a bottom line, is, in reality, a ceiling.

Britain obviously needs to have a clear negotiating position in discussions over the future of the eurozone within the EU – and preferably one which has a substantial degree of cross-party consensus – but the real challenge is going to be selling Europe again to the public in a referendum. Roughly a third of us want to leave completely, roughly a third just want to be in a free trade area and roughly a third are happy with where we are or want more integration. So the nature of a referendum question will be vital.

In Salisbury’s day Europe was absolutely a question of foreign policy but nowadays, even for those of us outside the eurozone the reality is that the impact of Europe is as much domestic as foreign, even if that is not quite what Angela Merkel had in mind. That is key to the debate. Europe is about parental leave, consumer protection and cheaper mobile phone tariffs as much as it is about the common agricultural policy and bank bailouts.

With European elections in 2014 and a UK general election in 2015, we need to anticipate a rise in support for UKIP and the pressure that that will put on the Tories and potentially on Labour. For many the solution will be an accommodation with the UKIP worldview. But – though the British, with our scepticism of high concepts in politics – are never going to be instinctive ‘Europeans’ we can respond to an alternative vision of Europe of progressive measures as well as economic efficiency – inclusive, flexible and increasingly accountable – a view which we should have the confidence to pursue as a leading member. The treaties belong to us as much as they belong to everybody else.

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Jeremy Miles is a candidate for the National Policy Forum in Wales and works as a lawyer. He tweets @Jeremy_Miles

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Photo: woodleywonderworks