No, you can't renounce EU citizenship

Well,  you can, but you then have to renounce your UK citizenship as well though, perhaps, one can then revert to being a British subject of HM Queen. After all, most of us would prefer that, anyway.

How do I know this? Because HMG has so replied to Lord Stoddart's Written Question:

what is the process by which British subjects may renounce their European Union citizenship.

The reply should be of some interest to those who think that reforming the EU or changing our "relationship" with it (a non-existent concept) are possibilities.

Under the Maastricht Treaty, every citizen who is a national of a member state is also a citizen of the Union. The UK has defined its "nationals" for European Economic Area (EEA) purposes as:

British citizens;

British overseas territories citizens who derive their citizenship from a Gibraltar connection and;British subjects under Part IV of the British Nationality Act 1981 having the right of abode under s.2 of the Immigration Act 1971.

A UK national as defined above who renounced that status and did not have the nationality of another member state would cease to be a European citizen. It is not possible, however, to renounce European citizenship while remaining a UK national.

And who signed that infamous treaty? Which party was in government then, for they cannot be said to be in power any more?

Twenty years ago

A somewhat less happy anniversary today: twenty years ago the Treaty on European Union, otherwise known as the Maastricht Treaty was signed. That, of course, was not the end of the story even of the treaty and its implementation but the date does need to be remembered. Members of the Conservative Party (if there be any left) might like to remind themselves as to which party was in government at the time.

Down memory lane

The news first seen by me on England Expects that Lord Hesketh is abandoning the Party Formerly Known as Conservative and joining UKIP, coupled with the ridiculous story of Sir John Major, of all people, lecturing us on the subject of how we can repatriate policies from the EU, brought back memories of various kind.

I became involved with the eurosceptic movement at the time of the Maastricht Treaty, its negotiations, Major's "game, set and match", the painful debates in both Houses, the campaign for a referendum on the treaty and the disgraceful shenanigans, which ensured that the necessary legislation would pass. To have the man who could have stopped the whole process after the first Danish referendum but who, instead, insisted on a completely unnecessary Paving Motion, who bullied MPs into passing that, who then used every conceivable trick to get the votes and who ended the process by abusing the concept of "No Confidence", all the while participating in the bullying of the Danish people tell us:

This, he said, was an opportunity for a looser union and for the UK to repatriate control over parts of employment law, notably the Working Time Directive; financial services regulation; and control of Britain's fishing industry. EU leaders had to realise, he continued, that 27 member states could not operate in the same unified way as when there were much fewer members.

does make one feel quite ill when not indulging in mirthless laughter. Incidentally, it was the Maastricht Treaty that finally enshrined the Common Fisheries Policy in treaty, thus making it impossible to change without unanimity. Furthermore, I do not recall Mr Major, as he then was, fighting particularly hard for the repatriation of control over the fishing industry.

Then there is Lord Hesketh. Ah yes, I remember him well. Simon Heffer seems to be very sympathetic to his Lordship's arguments about how bad the EU has been for the working people of this country. He is not wrong. But the same problem applies to him as it does to Sir John Major.

At the time of the Maastricht debates Lord Hesketh was Chief Whip in the Lords and, as such, exerted his formidable array of various weapons to get the legislation through. One sticking point was the question of a referendum. Again, I have to declare interest: I was heavily involved in the campaign to get their Lordships to vote through an amendment for a referendum on what was obviously a treaty that introduced important changes in the structure of what had been known as the European Community.

The motion was defeated. Lord Hesketh made sure by hiring a coach to bring many "backwoodsmen" in from the racing course; two thirds of a very full House voted against the amendment. It is a little odd to find out that one of Lord Hesketh's complaints is that the Prime Minister has ruled out a referendum on EU membership.

In St Luke's Gospel we read:

I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

But politics is not heaven. Far from it. So, maybe, we should have a little explanation from Lord Hesketh as to why and when he changed his mind on these matters.