The UK is, has been and always will be a European country. The EU remains far and away the UK’s biggest trading partner and London is Europe’s financial capital. What happens inside its European neighbours will always be of vital interest to the UK. Yet the UK’s history has also been different from that of the rest of the continent. Guarded by the sea, it managed to prevent invasion. Seeking to exploit opportunities across the oceans, it devoted itself to keeping Europe out of the hands of a single despotic ruler. It succeeded.
Today, the UK is no longer a global power, while Europe is uniting peacefully. Legally, the UK is inside the EU. Psychologically, it is ever more outside it. It is, in brief, semi-detached. This is shown in its rejection of the euro, in the rise of the UK Independence party and in the promise of David Cameron, the prime minister, of a referendum on EU membership in 2017.
Whether this referendum will happen depends on the outcome of next year’s general election. Ed Miliband, leader of the opposition Labour party, is not committed to a referendum. Yet the question of the UK’s place in Europe will not go away. Gaining full access to EU markets while doing as it pleases is an option the UK cannot have. Its choice is this: more independence and less influence or less independence and more influence.