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...As
Jenkins herself states in her opening chapter, “this
book is a plea for local democracy and for less
government, for the freedom of the British people to run
their own lives in their own country”.
Jenkins meticulously charts
the course of the steady break up of Britain into
regions that has been occurring since the 1972 British
ratification of the Treaty of Rome. Jenkins also
describes with unnerving clarity the steady dissolution
of Britain as a sovereign state, as these regions are
encouraged to deal bilaterally with Brussels bypassing
our democratically elected national parliament. The
eventual outcome as predicted by the author will be that
“all regions both in
the UK and across Europe will eventually report to
Brussels alone and not to countries. Countries will be
reduced to lines on a map, without substance, and of
historical interest only”.
Considering the range of
issues covered,
Disappearing Britain never seems to drag or
lose focus. This is thanks to the book’s tight
structure, upheld by a succession of short but highly
informative chapters, which divides her work into
manageable portions. Such an arrangement also allows
Jenkins to demonstrate how her wide area of study feeds
the central argument. For example, one might be forgiven
for wondering how the issue of differing local dialects
relates to the process of regionalisation as a whole.
But after reading Chapter 18,
Local Languages
Exploited to Divide
Countries, the Commission’s huge role in
reviving virtually extinct dialects such as Manx and
Jérriais in order to build separate regional identities
becomes clear.
The way in which Jenkins
endeavours to support her arguments with clear,
irrefutable evidence demonstrates the levels of both
secondary but especially primary research that she has
undertaken to produce this book.
Indeed, the book is bursting with facts and
figures. Personal correspondence, quotations from
newspapers, Hansard, the European Parliament, the
Commission, government White Papers, Committees and even
a map of Britain’s National Parks all serve to support
and promote Jenkins’s argument that democracy in Britain
is slowly seeping away. Perhaps the most interesting
quote comes straight from the horses mouth, from a
regional assembly member who discloses in a letter to
the author that,
“members receive their massive papers only days before
the Assembly meets and they have no real idea of what is
happening…It is a charade of democracy”. With
admissions such as this, it is evident that Ms Jenkins’s
arguments should not be ignored.
Far from being a standard
investigation into the politics of the EU,
Disappearing Britain
is also a historical and geographical study
into the regionalisation of Britain. The book offers
three clear and concise opening chapters explaining the
history of regionalisation. For instance, Jenkins
identifies the Treaty of Rome as the legal source of
regional government as evidenced by its desire to reduce
the ‘differences
existing between the various regions and backwardness of
the less favoured regions’. She notes that
even before Britain became a full member of the EU
change was already occurring to bring our regional
policy in line with that of the EU’s. The book examines
the more recent devolution of power to Scotland and
Wales, the failed referendum in the North East of
England and even the extent to which Poland was obliged
to adopt the EU’s three-tier system of government in
1999, replacing its 49 provinces with 16 regions to
ensure it gained full-membership in 2004.
In terms of geographical
interest, one must admire the way in equal attention is
paid to all areas of Britain, giving fair coverage of
Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland as well as the English
regions. For anyone interested in the history of the
UK’s counties, there are some fascinating details of the
ways in which 13 Welsh counties were reduced to eight
and counties such as Avon and Cumbria were created to
satisfy Britain’s proposed EEC membership. At the other
end of the scale, far from creating new counties Jenkins
goes on to explain the next step in the re-naming of
regions according to Brussels’ Spatial Plan. Apparently
London is now known to Brussels Eurocrats simply as UK
I, with outer and inner regions numbered UK I II
to UK I
23
replacing the well established boroughs. Rural counties
have not escaped this re-branding either and pending the
abolition of County Councils, councils such as Dorset
and Devon will be referred to as no more than UKK
43
and UKK 22
respectively.
For want of a single
criticism, coverage of the situation in other EU Member
States was slightly lacking. Save for a brief list of
‘snapshots of a changing Europe’ in Chapter 14, the only
other EU Member State that is looked at in any kind of
detail is Germany. But then again, the title of the
book is Disappearing
Britain, not
Disappearing Britain,
France, Germany, Spain, Greece, etc.
Of course this review could
continue to sing the praises of
Disappearing Britain.
Each chapter introduces yet another angle in which
British local government has been destroyed and replaced
by the EU’s own system of local government. Whilst some
sections such as Chapter 8,
Taxpayers Foot a Heavy
Bill, evoke feelings of pure anger that so
much of our money is being wasted on projects such as a
£120 million building for the London Assembly, other
sections conjure up a sense of regret that so much
subversive damage has already been done. At times you
will feel incredulity at just how many pies the bloated
EU bureaucracy has its fingers in and just how deep the
EU’s control is in the UK, even over seemingly mundane
things such as road signs. The only way to appreciate
the depth and scope of this book is to go forth and read
Disappearing Britain
for yourself. Remember, in the words of the hymn
Jerusalem,
it is our mountains green and pleasant pastures seen
which are at stake. |
