Pat McFadden MP, Labour’s Shadow Europe Minister, Speaking to the Fabian Society today, said the latest warnings from General Sir Peter Wall underline the damage done to Britain by David Cameron’s approach to Europe.
Pat McFadden MP said:
“The hard edge of our collective security will continue to be provided by NATO, but soft power and hard power are not opposites. We require both. While Eurosceptics crave the breaking of ties to the EU the security situation demands common action and resolve.
“This point was stressed last night by General Sir Peter Wall, Chief of the Army general Staff for most of the period the Coalition has been in power who warned that reaching common policies would be “more difficult still were we outside the EU” and said, “Unlike the Cold War when things were more binary…in a modern interconnected world it’s not just the defence capability that is going to be fundamental to our security. It’s going to be a number of other issues too.”
“What is the Prime Minister’s answer to the warning from his own Army Chief of Staff? We would not take risks with our hard power by leaving NATO. Why should we take risks with the effectiveness of our soft power by pursuing a policy which risks divorce from our key allies?”
He also said:
“The security dimension of the EU is becoming much more important than before. This is not about having a European army - we neither need nor want that – but it is about working together to defend our common values.
“The hard edge of our collective security will continue to be provided by NATO, but soft power and hard power are not opposites. We require both. While Eurosceptics crave the breaking of ties to the EU the security situation demands common action and resolve.
“This point was stressed last night by General Sir Peter Wall, Chief of the Army General Staff for most of the period the Coalition has been in power who warned that reaching common policies would be “more difficult still were we outside the EU” and said, “Unlike the Cold War when things were more binary…in a modern interconnected world it’s not just the defence capability that is going to be fundamental to our security. It’s going to be a number of other issues too.”
“What is the Prime Minister’s answer to the warning from his own Army Chief of Staff? We would not take risks with our hard power by leaving NATO. Why should we take risks with the effectiveness of our soft power by pursuing a policy which risks divorce from our key allies?
“If the EU were to splinter or split, no one would be more pleased than President Putin. It is not an accident that the political forces he admires are those anti-EU forces of the populist left and right. Nor is it an accident that the Front National in France has received loans of millions of Euros from a Russian bank. And it is no accident either that Mr Putin has been signalled out for admiration by Mr Farage, as he said “as an operator”.
“Russia’s aggression is not confined to Ukraine. EU members which share a border with Russia are living in fear. Transgressions of airspace and other military near misses have risen sharply. The RAF has had to escort Russian bombers from our own airspace in recent weeks. The European Leadership Network recently reported that in 2014 NATO states conducted over 100 intercepts of Russian aircraft – three times more than in 2013. Their report concludes “the situation has changed both with regard to the number of relevant incidents, and their gravity”. It is clear what is happening. We are being tested.
“Whenever the West has been tested in the past, it has looked to Britain. Today, such is the confusion and incoherence of the British government’s position, some are no longer looking. They doubt our resolve.
“As Military chiefs have pointed out, on Ukraine and other towering issues of global security this government has been content to preside over a shrinking of Britain’s role, leaving us a more marginal player on the international stage.
“When asked about David Cameron’s irrelevance to the debate about Ukraine, Downing Street’s response was to say: “There’s a general election on. You wouldn’t expect the Prime Minister to spend much time on foreign policy now.”
“At the very moment when we want Europe to be strong our Prime Minister’s approach has become characterised by posture, pandering and panic in the face of its own backbenchers and UKIP.
“Of course our position in the EU is about trade and jobs and inward investment. These issues are crucial to our future and our prosperity.
“But the geopolitical situation we face shows us it is about values too. Our debate has become too narrow in its focus. It has to consider the common bonds of democracy, rule of law and respect for borders before we make a move that would weaken us and weaken our neighbours.
“It is no small matter to preside over a relegating of Britain’s role. It is hugely important to our interests and our influence on how the world responds to this changing situation.
“Britain‘s debate about its future relationship with the EU has almost entirely ignored the issue of our collective security. This is a mistake we can no longer afford. It is utterly incoherent for our Prime Minister to call for tougher European action against President Putin in one breath and then threaten to leave the EU in the next. Security is the unspoken dimension of this European debate. This is no time for democratic nations to consider breaking from their allies.
“So the choice facing us at the election and perhaps beyond it is about Britain’s place in the world and our sense of ourselves. It is time those of us who want to maintain Britain’s sense of ourselves as a confident country which wants to help shape the world rather than retreat from it, stepped up our case.”
The full speech is available online here: http://press.labour.org.uk/post/113336691669/pat-mcfadden-speech-to-fabian-conference-on