A letter to the Daily Telegraph which was published on 1st November 1993.

It was written by Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Labour Life Peer and Chairman of the Campaign for an Independent Britain), Sir Richard Body (Conservative MP and one of the Maastricht rebels) Austin Mitchell (Labour MP and vice-chairman of the Campaign for an Independent Britain), Professor Stephen Bush (vice-chairman of the Campaign for an Independent Britain), Dr Martin Holmes, Norris McWhirter, Lord Jay, Ron Leighton (Labour MP), Sir Teddy Taylor (Conservative MP and one of the Maastricht rebels), Dr Alan Sked (first leader of UKIP), Peter Dul (Anti-Common Market League) and Charlotte Horsfield (The British Housewives’ League).

Today the Maastricht Treaty comes into force and all British citizens are, without their consent, thereby conscripted as citizens of the European Union with obligations yet to be defined.

Many British politicians, including those on the Conservative and Labour front benches, appear to believe that with Britain’s exit from the ERM last year and the ERM’s virtual collapse in August, the Maastricht Treaty is essentially a dead letter. They could not be more wrong.

Despite the well publicised misgivings in Germany and France, the European Commission is determined to extract the absolute maximum from the authority over member countries which the Maastricht Treaty gives them.

Under Article 103, the Treaty requires member countries to submit national accounts for inspection by the Commission and to co-ordinate their economic policies, striking at the heart of Britain’s freedom to sustain its fragile recovery.

We, who have been consistently opposed to the imposition of the Maastricht Treaty without the explicit approval of the British people, will continue to fight its implementation. Instead, we aim for a self-governing Britain that will regain its freedom to trade unhindered with the whole world, including the Pacific Rim countries, with many of whom we have unique ties of history and language.