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Majority Of Conservative Party Members Want Britain To Leave The EU

Cameron Eu

First Posted: 28/12/11 11:57 GMT Updated: 28/12/11 11:57 GMT   PA

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A majority of Conservative Party members believe Britain should leave the European Union, according to an opinion poll.

A survey of party members by the ConservativeHome website for The Independent found 54% would favour ending Britain's EU membership and signing up to a free-trade agreement.

Almost a quarter - 24% - would like a more flexible relationship with the EU, with continued co-operation on key policy areas, while 10% said Britain should maintain its current relationship but ignore European laws which were not in the national interest.

Five per cent said the UK should leave the EU and not seek any new agreements with it, while 3% said the Government should keep the current relationship with the EU but not sign up to any further integration.

Two per cent said they were in favour of further integration, while retaining the pound, while just 1% wanted to join the euro and hand over tax and spending powers to the European Parliament.

Baroness Thatcher is the politician whose views they most closely indentified with, followed by London mayor Boris Johnson and former US president Ronald Reagan.

David Cameron trails in eighth place, only just ahead of UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage.

:: ConservativeHome surveyed 1,566 Conservative Party members on December 22 and 23.

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A majority of Conservative Party members believe Britain should leave the European Union, according to an opinion poll. A survey of party members by the ConservativeHome website for The Independent...
A majority of Conservative Party members believe Britain should leave the European Union, according to an opinion poll. A survey of party members by the ConservativeHome website for The Independent...
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Galician
Keep calm and carry on
317 Fans
 
05:25 PM on 01/07/2012
No wonder why!
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ashootist
26 Fans
09:54 PM on 01/02/2012
Can I leave too please, I was against it the first time around But hold on a mo what will neil kinnock and tony blair have to do then, Lets hope its not a come back, silly labour politicians
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kwb948
14 Fans
03:02 PM on 01/02/2012
Leave the EU? Cameron would have to hold a referendum or, God forbid, make a decision, no doubt followed by a U turn, which is the same as making no decision in the first place. That's the best we can expect from this no mandate disaffiliation.
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Raldor
33 Fans
10:38 PM on 12/31/2011
Cameron would do well to take notice of his party and also of the country.

Give us a vote on EU membership or we will vote in those who will.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Chaotician101
117 Fans
06:09 PM on 12/30/2011
Baroness Thatcher? How can anyone take people seriously that play silly games with medieval titles and ridiculous power structures? Isn't it time to end this Royal nonsense, take away their money, and make them do some real work?
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buckwell
11 Fans
04:58 PM on 12/30/2011
It might be said that it is fortunate that the tories are not in the majority in UK. Those who criticise the current trading arrangements must remember that it takes two sides to sign a 'free trade' agreement - so they had better start getting pally again.
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Tel4b
13 Fans
12:55 PM on 12/30/2011
Let's hope that the tories take note and make leaving the EU part of their manifesto next time around. It would be a rare example of MPs listening to the public for once and offering something different than the other mainstream political parties. Can't see it happening though. All of them just want more jobs for the boys in Brussels.
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Trenchfoot
76 Fans
04:02 AM on 12/30/2011
European Free Trade? Very useful for us. Let it flourish. European Union? A bureacratic black hole that threatens to suck in our treasure and destroy not only our national identities but also the values we hold dear.
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writetimewriter
0 Fans
11:01 PM on 12/29/2011
It not just Conservatives who want to leave the EU. Ask the farmers. Remember the ban on British Beef. Ask the treawlermen. Ask the miners. Ask the seamen. Ask the car makers. Ask the staff of Bombadair, Its only the professional politicians who are lining their pockets who advocate European intergration would want us to stay in. We never voted for a federated Europe. Nor can I remember voting for the EU previously. I said NO for reasons everone knows and understands today, Back then it was at certainly at the expense of our former Comonwealth, people who fought and died for our freedom in the two major world wars. We were once world leaders, not apologists. Get out Now! Let us inspire our younger generations with the National Pride I once knew.
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Orthrus
70 Fans
09:57 AM on 12/30/2011
Quote: "Ask the farmers. Remember the ban on British Beef"

Yes, ask them why our "special friends" in the USA have still not lifted the ban.

Quote: "Ask the treawlerme­n"

Yes, ask them why employment fell from 50,000 after WW2 to 25,000 in 1970 before the UK joined the EEC. Then ask why fishing in Grimsby, which once the biggest fishing port in the world, completely disappeared - hint it was our non-EU friends in Iceland that killed off that industry.

Quote: "Ask the miners"

Yes, ask them where coal imports come from. This can be found in Hansard:

EU 557 thousand tonnes
Australia 4,745
Canada 1,662
Columbia 3,872
Indonesia 1,455
South Africa 7,729
Russia 20,206
USA 2,523

Perhaps Brits should complain that its Commonwealth friends have destroyed the mining industry.

Quote: "Ask the car makers"

Ask them what?

Quote: "Ask the staff of Bombadair"

Actually the question should be why on earth have a succession of companies bought the former British Rail Engineering Ltd? First the Swiss-Swedish ABB, then Daimler Benz of Germany and now Bombardier of Canada. The loss of the Thameslink contract had nothing to do with the EU, simply economics.

Quote: "We were once world leaders, not apologists­"

So now you have found a convenient scapegoat for all the UK's ills and a new Utopia lies ahead. Sad to say, but a lot of people think like you and base their opinions on emotions and perceptions, not facts.
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Tel4b
13 Fans
11:38 AM on 12/30/2011
Perhaps that's because they can remember how much better life was before the europrats took over. They want a government that puts the UK's national interest ahead of the beggar states of europe which were bribed away from the soviet bloc. And so does anyone with an active brain cell who doesn't have a without a vested interest in the survival of the EUSSR.
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normdoug
If we all loved, we could all live.
235 Fans
06:20 PM on 12/29/2011
It seems we are all forgetting that we joined the EU for trade only, that is why at the time it was called the common market. We did not join to be ruled by Germany and France. Both countries have tried to rule Britain for centuries.
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Sickofpoliticians2
241 Fans
04:58 PM on 12/29/2011
5 posters on this thread are pro-EU, two are doing business there and doing very well according to them, both have argued the toss with me over every issue we here complain of.

5 for doesn't appear to be in the majority especially when 2 of those benefit financially from membership and will listen to no argument against, regardless how rational, its a failure we can do without and I suspect theres many ordinary citizens of each of the 27 nations feel the same way but have been railroaded into this mess by the traitors we elected to govern but who'd rather pass the buck to the bigger organization as they constantly go from mistake to calamity .
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swissyonline
0 Fans
02:42 PM on 12/29/2011
I don`t think that as we end 2011 there are many who can say the Euro is a success and
the unelected EU shower will not admit the model is just wrong. Even EU enthusiasts can`t seriously believe in this project anymore. There`s no accountability for their mistakes and until they can just come out and admit it needs redefining immediately, they cannot be respected. At the very least, certain countries must leave the currency, and others, the whole project. This stupid defiance that it can be fixed by buying its own debt and slowly replacing European Country leaders by EU puppets is simply prolonging the agony.None of them will be brave enough.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
OH72
51 Fans
04:37 PM on 12/29/2011
The only stupid thing you wrote about is your suggestion that country leaders would be replaced by EU puppets. For once, it demonstrates you don't know the difference between a head of state and a head of government, and second, it demonstrates that you have no idea - and no respect for - what the constitution of said countries says about how heads of government get chosen. Your claim that they had been replaced by EU puppets is nothing short of spitting into the face of the people of those countries and declaring yourself their dictator wannabe.
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swissyonline
0 Fans
08:07 PM on 12/29/2011
I am allowed my opinion, and it is one that is shared by many.

Greece dared to mention a referendum, and before we know it, France and Germany get together and have the minister in question removed, suddenly, no referendum. What are the EU scared of ? If there is no consent, there is no legitimacy.
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romano70
If conservatives were smart, they'd be liberals
694 Fans
02:31 PM on 12/29/2011
As an italian American, I can see it woul dbe the best step for the UK to leave the EU. The UK is blocking everything the EU is doing to solve its internal problem and in the process is making a lot of enemies. The UK still has to figure out that it is sharing her house -Europe- with others who are starting to hate her (the other EU countries). As close as the ties are with the USA, we are not neighbors and we are not your main trading partners. You are antagonizing your faimily, your firends and most importantly, your main business partners. Before this continues, britain should just leave. At least the rest of the world will finally know where the UK stands on anything related to Europe, really.
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eric14
1215 Fans
 
12:23 AM on 12/31/2011
The EU issue has had a very bad effect in the UK. Our media does not report EU events so the populace are largely ignorant of what happens. Add anti-EU feelings to reactions against immigration and national decline (including, even now, loss of empire) and the right-of-centre political arena becomes fertile ground for ultra-nationalist racists.

It is a very difficult situation. I think there should be a referendum as soon as is practicable. Two choices. In for everything including future federalist project or out of EU and in association for free trade only.

The problem we have to date is that we vote to be in but then draw back from the consequences, and, like you say, we, the British in the EU have become a total nuisance.

The great Tory-Labour plan was to destroy federalism by going for rapid EU expansion which they thought would lead to a loose confederacy. Wrong. So wrong. Accession states of recent expansions now view federalism as attractive option. Woops.
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Tel4b
13 Fans
02:08 PM on 12/29/2011
At last. If they make it Tory policy we can stop voting for UKIP and finally vote for a mainstream party that actually represents the electorate's view.
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redsquaddie
27 Fans
01:16 PM on 12/29/2011
perhaps it would be good to quit the EU but so much better if Cameron and his cronies would just QUIT the UK while we still have one Red xxx
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