An interesting report on OurKingdom from the Labour conference fringe on a meeting discussing Britain's relationship with Europe. Yes - a major British political party actually discussing, rather than ducking the issue that all have been trying to avoid now for years - albeit only on the conference fringe, and albeit not really tackling the big questions, but focussing once again on the referendum issue. (A bit like sitting in a plane that's rapidly hurtling towards the ground with its engines aflame while arguing about whether trying to unblock the loo might clear the air a bit, but still...) The Foreign Secretary was in attendance, so who knows - maybe they've finally realised that the EU is a significant factor in British politics and worthy of debate?
The Lib Dems had a speech from the President of the European Commission at their conference (not that you would have noticed, under all the coverage of their leader being a bit elderly). But then, they're the Lib Dems, and are always rather more keen than other mainstream parties to discuss European affairs. (Nonetheless, more on Barroso's speech, which I'd missed, tomorrow...)
So, does anyone know if the Tories have anything on the EU planned for their conference, or are they still too scared to risk raising that particular bogeyman again? This is, after all, the last chance any of the main parties will get to have a big debate on the EU prior to the reform treaty's ratification...
