Let us hope the phoney war is over and the battle for Europe has begun 24 May 2001 Frustrated Blair accuses media of ignoring 'real election issues' Tony Blair: 'The campaign has revolved to a quite ridiculous degree around personality rather than policy' For too long, the Labour government's attitude towards Europe has seemed to be a love that dare not speak its name. Whenever the Conservatives have accused Labour of an excess of Europhilia, the Government has gone into desperate denial. We found ourselves drowning in ifs, buts and maybes. This useless strategy left pro- and anti-Europeans almost equally disgruntled. We welcome the fact that � as Tony Blair's comments in his interview in today's Independent make clear � a sea change now seems to be upon us at last. Lady Thatcher has done the pro-Europeans a sterling service by parachuting the subject on to the election agenda. Her insistence that the euro is unthinkable � now, tomorrow, forever � has encouraged Mr Blair to speak out properly for the first time. Mr Blair is right to point to the "ludicrousness" of existing Tory policy on the euro, which he describes as "we're against the principle � but only for five years". (It is, it must be said, a somewhat cheeky accusation. Labour's own policy till now has been equally eager to prevaricate: "We're in favour of the euro � unless we're not.") Above all, Mr Blair is right to note: "At least Margaret Thatcher has the courage of her convictions on that." We do hope that the Prime Minister will now show that he himself has the courage of his convictions. Mr Blair emphasises that it could be possible "to turn public opinion around very quickly" on the euro. Quite true, if the case is made forcefully enough � which the Government has until now signally failed to do. On the question of tax harmonisation, the Labour Party still finds itself on the back foot. The latest claims from the Conservatives that tax harmonisation is on a secret Euro-agenda were hotly denied in Brussels yesterday, where the internal-market commissioner said he was "not in favour, and never will be, of any harmonisation of income taxes". Despite the denials, the logic of the single market means that increasing harmonisation of VAT and other taxes is likely to become inevitable. In other respects, however, almost-frankness on both sides now seems to be the order of the day. In his keynote election speech on Europe, Mr Blair seems ready to assault the Tories' pathological Euroscepticism head-on. Mr Blair's insistence that "in an economic union, the economics have got to be right", is partly weasel language. For supporters and opponents of the euro alike, politics is as important as economics. None the less, we welcome the fact that movement has come into the debate. In one respect, this election is a mini-referendum on the euro: one side is broadly in favour; the other clearly against. Mr Hague is, however, wrong to suggest that this is the last chance to save the pound. The promised referendum means that choices will remain open after 7 June. If the British people do not want the euro, they will say "no". Nor will this vote take place in a void. In contrast to the referendum on staying in the European Economic Community in 1975, there will be plenty of chance for opponents of the euro to make themselves heard. If Mr Hague is confident that the people will oppose the euro, he should welcome the referendum because of the humiliation that it will bring to the Government. One of the most obvious differences between Labour and Conservatives remains the chasm separating them on Europe. We hope that the battle has at last been joined, instead of the shadow-boxing that we have seen up until now. Europe is Britain's future. A move away from Europe would be catastrophic for all. One day, even the Conservative Party will have to understand that simple point.
