European Union: I can’t reconcile Heath’s public assurances of ‘no erosion of national sovereignty’ with Foreign Office document

From: R.HopkinsLewes Road
By The Newsroom
Published 8th Mar 2019, 09:11 BST
Updated 8th Mar 2019, 10:15 BST
Pro-EU demonstrators wave an mixed EU and Union flag as they protest against Brexit, outside of the Houses of Parliament in central London on June 11, 2018. - After a rollercoaster week of Brexit rows within her government and with Brussels, British Prime Minister Theresa May will on Tuesday seek to avoid another setback in a long-awaited showdown with parliament. MPs in the House of Commons will vote on a string of amendments to a key piece of Brexit legislation that could force the government's hand in the negotiations with the European Union. (Photo by Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP) (Photo credit should read DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images) NNL-190213-092123005Pro-EU demonstrators wave an mixed EU and Union flag as they protest against Brexit, outside of the Houses of Parliament in central London on June 11, 2018. - After a rollercoaster week of Brexit rows within her government and with Brussels, British Prime Minister Theresa May will on Tuesday seek to avoid another setback in a long-awaited showdown with parliament. MPs in the House of Commons will vote on a string of amendments to a key piece of Brexit legislation that could force the government's hand in the negotiations with the European Union. (Photo by Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP) (Photo credit should read DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images) NNL-190213-092123005
Pro-EU demonstrators wave an mixed EU and Union flag as they protest against Brexit, outside of the Houses of Parliament in central London on June 11, 2018. - After a rollercoaster week of Brexit rows within her government and with Brussels, British Prime Minister Theresa May will on Tuesday seek to avoid another setback in a long-awaited showdown with parliament. MPs in the House of Commons will vote on a string of amendments to a key piece of Brexit legislation that could force the government's hand in the negotiations with the European Union. (Photo by Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP) (Photo credit should read DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images) NNL-190213-092123005

In reply to Mr Iles’ letter (”How dare they distort record.” Letters, March 1 click here to read), in November 1970 a Foreign and Commonwealth Office assessment paper (FCO 30/789) on the EEC plans for economic and monetary union, produced to assist Edward Heath in his planning to join the European Economic Community stated, “At the ultimate stage, economic sovereignty would to all intents and purposes disappear at the national level and the Community would be itself the master of overall economic policy.

“The degree of freedom which would then be vested in national governments might indeed be somewhat less than the autonomy enjoyed by the constituent States of the USA.”

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Not exactly what the Heath government was interested to make public knowledge, this paper promptly disappeared from sight under the 30-year rule until released by the Public Records Office in January 2001.

Mr Iles might be able to reconcile Heath’s public assurances of “no erosion of essential national sovereignty” with this revealing assessment by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

I’m sure I can’t.