"Not only was it wrong for us to deal superficially with what Europe involved but we've paid the price ever since, because every time there's a crisis in Europe, people say with some justification, "Well, we wouldn't have been part of this if we'd really known the implications." Joining the European Community did involve significant loss of sovereignty but by telling the British people that was not involved I think the rest of the argument was prejudiced for the next thirty years."
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Members of the Parliament of the United KingdomHumanistsLabour Party (UK) politiciansJournalists from EnglandPeople from Sheffield
Original Language: English
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Interview with BBC Radio 4 (3 February 2000), quoted in Derek Scott, Off Whitehall: A view from Downing Street by Tony Blair's adviser (2004), p. 197
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roy_Hattersley
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Roy Hattersley
Roy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley (born 28 December 1932) is a British Labour politician and journalist. He was born in Sheffield and first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Sparkbrook in 1964, remaining the constituency's MP until 1997. Hattersley served in the cabinets of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan, and was Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992 with Neil Kinnock as leader. Hattersley was on the right of the party during his active career
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