To what extent have recent EU developments had an impact on the UK?

strongly opposed the involvement with Europe and he referred to them as the ‘bastards’. This caused a rift in his party and therefore led to a loss of faith. It was arguably this involvement in Europe which was instrumental to him losing the election, causing another large change as it was then Labour who came in to power in 1997.   Moreover, the factor tame case of 1991 established the European law has supremacy over statute law in the UK. This effectively led to a loss of parliamentary sovereignty as a power shift was caused. The UK can no longer implement any laws where community laws already exist meaning that they are limited and cannot always be representative of the electorate.  The UK has since enforced some controversial laws implemented by Europe such as giving prisoners the right to vote in 2011. This came after the ECHR ruled that banning prisoners a right to vote breached his right to participate in the democratic process. Cameron was said to be ‘horrified’ however he reluctantly accepted there was no alternative. This shows that Cameron had lost his ability to be representative due to EU supremacy.  On the other hand, the UK has the option to veto any EC/EU measures that threaten the vital national interests, which gives the UK the ability to protect some of its parliamentary sovereignty E.g. Cameron’s veto of the fiscal pact.    Blair opted in to the Social Charter in 1997 as a part of his aim for a more pro-Europe stance. However this proved very divisive as it established the minimum wage and equal workers’ rights, in doing this it has caused more small businesses to suffer most and therefore proved very unpopular within the Conservative Party. Also this has arguably created a further loss in parliamentary sovereignty. More recently it has also caused a rift in the coalition government as Vince Cable recently proposed an amendment to the Charter which would entitle workers to extra holiday if they are ill whilst on booked holiday. However the conservative members of the coalition are strongly opposed to this as it would have the largest effect on smaller businesses.        Additionally, the recent vetoing of the fiscal pact by Cameron has arguably has caused a rift in the coalition due to the Lib Dems and conservatives conflicting views on Europe. Europe proposed a pact which would bind the member states financially in an attempt to improve the current economic stance in Europe. In doing so this would give Europe more involvement into the workings of the UK banking system and therefore in London, a concept which is largely unpopular to David Cameron and the conservative party. More involvement in the city, which is largely conservative, would be damaging to the party and so would the loss in support of his backbench MPs. The Lib Dems on the other hand are said to be secretly opposed to the veto and unhappy with this decision, and that he felt that it was ‘a failure’ in delivering Britain’s best interests. This would suggest a weakness in the coalition and an inability of the Lib Dems views to be supported. On the other hand in exercising his right to veto, the UK has maintained its parliamentary sovereignty.