Vote Liberal Democrat in the European Elections on June 4th

• Introduction
• Jobs
• The EU
• Crime
• Environment
• Defence and world trade

Liberal Democrats don’t believe in one-size-fits-all solutions. This is because Liberal Democrats believe that individual people, families and their communities know best about the things that affect them, so decision should be taken by them, not by distant politicians and bureaucrats in Westminster or Brussels. That is why we insist that Europe does not act when national, regional or local action is more effective.

We want government at every level to be open, transparent and held to account for its actions. We take the same strict approach in Brussels.

The EU should concentrate on issues like tackling climate change, taking on cross border criminals and building economic prosperity - and not get involved when national or regional action would be more effective.

The EU’s budget and practices need to be reformed to stop any waste of taxpayers money, for instance scrapping the Strasbourg parliament would save millions of pound each year.

Too often Labour has used EU rules as an excuse to enact burdensome and centralising regulations. An independent analysis by the Federation for Small Business argued that too many regulations had been “over-implemented”.

The Conservatives and UKIP would make things even worse by isolating Britain. Turning our backs on our partners will achieve nothing for Britain.

Liberal Democrats have argued for a referendum on whether Britain stays in or leaves the EU. We are the only party confident enough to put the pro-European case to the British people on the big issue facing us – and let the people decide. Britain will only win the case for a flexible, democratic Europe in Brussels if we settle our arguments at home on whether we should be part of the EU or not.

Liberal Democrats want:

• Reform of the EU Budget to get better value for money. We do not see the need, in the current context, for any significant growth in the budget’s size, nor the abolition of the British rebate. But the EU budget is in urgent need of wholesale reform so that money is spent only on the things the EU really needs to do and there is a more rational system for contributions by member states. This means in particular further reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.
   
• To Scrap the Strasbourg Parliament saving €200m a year by basing it permanently in Brussels.
   
• Extra powers for national parliaments and the European parliament to amend or object to EU proposals. We want those who are elected, such as MEPs and MPs, to have greater power so that EU institutions can be held properly to account.
   
• Reforming MEPs Expenses to end abuses. Liberal Democrat MEPs have been at the forefront of the campaign to reform the European Parliament. It was our MEPs who blew the whistle on the lack of openness and malpractice. Liberal Democrats expect the highest standards of public service and honesty from all our representatives.

More detail

There is more information on Liberal Democrat policies for reforming Europe in our full manifesto.