Peter Mandelson is still trotting out his discredited line aboutforeign investment depending on Europe

Peter Mandelson has written an unintentionally hilarious article in the Guardian in which he claims that mere talk of a different relationship with the EU will damage Britain's economy. 'International companies now headquartered in Britain will start wondering if they should opt for a continental base,' he writes.
Sound familiar? Let me remind you of what Mandelson said in 2003:

Staying out of the euro will mean fewer foreign businesses investing here, fewer good jobs being created and less trade being done with our European partners. At the moment, more than half Britain’s trade is with Europe’s giant single market. But while we are using a different currency from the rest of Europe we are trading in this market with one arm tied behind our back.

Being a Euro-enthusiast, I suppose, means never having to admit that you're wrong. Even so, it takes particular brazenness to repeat precisely the same forecast with as little evidence as the first time.
In the same piece, incidentally, the Labour peer calls me 'the anti-Europeans' keenest ideologue'. Again, it takes a certain chutzpah to use the term 'anti-European' when, despite four years in Brussels, you can't speak a foreign language. For the record, though, Peter, you couldn't be more wrong. I love Europe and cherish its freedom; that's why I dislike the EU.

by Daniel Hannan MEP
Daniel Hannan is a writer and journalist, and has been Conservative MEP for South East England since 1999. He speaks French and Spanish and loves Europe, but believes that the European Union is making its constituent nations poorer, less democratic and less free.

Above: Lord Mandelson

Below: Dan Hannan MEP