What is the state of British public opinion on Europe?  A recent survey by YouGov for Vote UK out of the EU gave us the headline that a majority of people would vote in a referendum against membership of the EU, but looking behind the headline provides a rather more interesting picture. Positive about membership? [...]

At a debate on EU membership organised by the Spectator on 20 September (read a report here), leading eurosceptic Daniel Hannan MEP compared the UK unfavourably with Switzerland.  The Swiss experience of non-membership of the EU, he said, has been more beneficial than the UK experience of membership.  We are poorer, both in economic terms [...]

The sale of 60 watt incandescent light bulbs is banned in the UK from today, as part of an EU-wide strategy.  A report on the BBC website was accompanied by a comment from a shopkeeper: “This is not a democracy, it’s becoming like a dictatorship, ordering you to do this, do that. You should have [...]

The People’s Pledge campaign claims to be in favour of a referendum on EU membership.  The European Movement does not support this campaign: while it is not necessarily against a referendum on further developments in the EU – should Britain join the euro, for example – the European Movement does not believe that a referendum [...]

It was not surprising that Herman Van Rompuy’s first UK speech as President of the European Council dealt primarily with the EU response to the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone and its chances of success. In the following Q&A, Phillip Stephens of the Financial Times sounded sceptical. He suggested that the injection of loans [...]