Boris Johnson,London Mayor’s backing gives major boost to Brexit campaign

 

Boris Johnson,London Mayor’s decision, after months of prevarication, to back the ‘Out’ campaign in the June 23 referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union is a major boost to its cause — as much as it spells the loss of support that a popular and articulate politician like Mr. Johnson would have brought the “In” campaign.

Boris Johnson, who is a Member of Parliament and a contender for the role of leader of the Conservative Party after Prime Minister David Cameron, claimed that the delay in making the announcement was because the issue had him “conflicted.” On Sunday, seven senior Cabinet Ministers rejected Mr. Cameron’s call for support to Britian’s continued membership of a reformed EU, and declared their support for Brexit.

In a sharply-argued defence of his decision to back Brexit Boris Johnson likened EU penetration into Britain’s polity and economy to a ratchet, “clicking only forwards,” in a non-stop process of “legal colonisation, as the EU infiltrates just about every area of public policy.”

Each new treaty — not just the Maastricht (1992), but also Amsterdam (1997), Nice (2003) and Lisbon (2009) — has tightened the grip of the EU over Britain’s institutions and sovereignty, he argued, citing the House of Commons library that “anything between 15 and 50 per cent of U.K. legislation now comes from the EU.”

“The more the EU does, the less room there is for national decision-making,” Mr. Johnson wrote. The ultimate loss of sovereignty lies in “the inability of people to kick out, at elections, the men and women who control their lives.”

In the London Mayoral elections to be held this May 2016, Brexit will figure as a major issue, and its outcome may be a pointer to the referendum results as well.

The Conservative Party candidate Zac Goldsmith, like Boris Johnson, is backing Brexit, while the Labour candidate Sadiq Khan is with the “In” camp

Even before the ‘In’ and ‘Out’ campaigns can get off the ground, fears of Britain’s possible exit from the EU has already pushed the pound down by more than 4 % against the dollar