THERE IS ONE issue where Eurosceptics may have a more persuasive case for leaving the EU: the relationship between those inside and outside the euro zone. In November 2014 the EU’s voting rules changed so that the 19-strong euro zone constitutes a “qualified majority” that could in theory legislate for the entire EU. George Osborne, Britain’s chancellor, has said that his priority in the renegotiation is to ensure that euro members cannot gang up on non-members. As he put it in a speech to the Open Europe think-tank in January 2014, if the countries outside the euro feel their collective interests are not being protected, “then they will have to choose between joining the euro zone, which the UK will not do, or leaving the European Union”.
That sentiment is echoed by many Eurosceptics. Nigel Lawson, a former chancellor who is now leading the Out campaign, sees the arrival of European economic and monetary union as a watershed in Britain’s EU membership. It has long been clear, he argues, that EMU cannot work without some form of political union. But Britain is outside EMU and will never want to sign up to a United States of Europe. John Redwood, a Eurosceptic former cabinet minister who was always against EMU, agrees that the euro zone has embarked “on a wild ride to political union” which will harm Britain, making withdrawal a better option.