Labour and Conservative parties policies on the EU have become increasingly similar. Discuss. discuss

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Ayesha Mazumder                                                                                     Grade:

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Labour and Conservative parties’ policies on the EU have become increasingly similar discuss

The European Union (EU) originally known as the European Commission (EC) is an institute first established during the 1940s soon after the Second World War, by the six countries who had all been defeated during the world in order to ensure security, among these countries were France, Germany and Holland. Britain’s first entry however was not until 1973, 15 years after the development of the EC. Conservatives and Labour are the two main stream parties in the British political system, more commonly known as the left and right wing respectively. When the UK first joined in 1973 it was under the conservative government lead by Margaret Thatcher, and originally the conservatives were known to be Euro-Enthusiasts and Euro-Positive because they saw the economic advantages of Britain being a part of free trade economy, however once they began realising the negative implications like the loss of sovereignty they soon turned sceptical. Labour however form 1970s-1980s was very much anti European because they believed the EC was a capitalist club, helping the rich earn money at the expense of the poor. However during the late 1980s Labour started becoming more Euro-Positive because the EU now is not only about economic benefits but is also about social factors such as Human Rights, which is in the best interest of the sector of society that Labour represents. Therefore where Conservatives have gone form being more Euro-Positive to Euro-Sceptic, Labour has gone from Euro-phobic to Euro-Positive. In the recent years however the opinion of both the parties towards the EU seems to changing once again, where both Labour and conservative have been heard saying Britain is at the heart of Europe suggesting an Euro-positive mindset, they have both opted out of joining the Euro zone and have rejected further integration suggesting an Euro-sceptical view. In this essay I am going to be discussing on whether both Labour’s and Conservative’s party policies regarding the EU have in fact become increasingly similar, or if they are both just as divided as they were forty year ago.

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One of the arguments which suggest that the two party’s policies on the EU have become increasingly similar is the fact that they both oppose a federal system of government. A federal system is a system where power is dispersed between a central authority and the federal states and current example of a federal state is the USA. Under a Federal system federal government will be responsible for certain policies and the state government will be responsible for certain policies. The Federal government are responsible for things that affect the country as a whole like the economy; where as ...

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