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		The EU Constitution: What it means for Gainsborough Wednesday 10th August 2005 People who think that Brussels is getting too big for its boots (and that seems to be most of us these days!) were delighted by the NO votes in the referendums in France and Holland. I was in the Press Bar in the Brussels parliament with some euro-sceptic colleagues when the first Dutch exit polls came through on the big screens, and I will never forget the roars of delight. Of course that should be the end of it. The Constitution should be dead. But in the EU, there is no Plan B. They don't take NO for an answer. They just keep coming back again and again with Plan A until we finally give in. The rejection of the Constitution by two founding member-states came as a massive shock to the Brussels élites. For days they were in denial. Some said that France and Holland would have to vote again until they got the right answer. Some called for minor changes to the text. No one, of course, suggested scrapping the Constitution. Brussels doesn't work like that. Accept the people's verdict? That would never do! Finally, they've cracked it. Instead of introducing the Constitution in one piece, they're going for a bit at a time, a stealth assault. They may never go for the big bang. Instead, they'll get 95% of it in piece-meal. Already they're talking about changing voting weights, appointing an EU Foreign Minister. Already they're setting up a diplomatic service, border guards, a Space Agency, a Defence Procurement Agency, a Human Rights Agency. Without the Constitution, they have no legal basis for any of these things - no right to spend our money - but they'll do it first and ask questions afterwards. Perhaps the toughest question for an MEP is "What does this mean for Gainsborough?" (Or Hinckley? Or Glossop?). Most of the issues we deal with are national or international. So the question for Gainsborough is the same as the question for the rest of the UK. Do we want Britain to be an independent, self-governing nation? Do we want our laws made in Westminster by our own representatives, like Gainsborough's own excellent MP Edward Leigh? Or do we agree that our laws should be made in foreign institutions in Brussels, where we have no control and little influence? Your call.