Those who believe in ‘ever-closer union’ in Europe (there are precious few of them, most certainly not including me) must be tearing their hair out at recent European events.

It is absurd that the more successful a member’s economy the more they have to cross-subsidise the euro-using, less successful economies, such as France. We must not, on December 1, pay the £1.7 billion demanded of us (when we are being told the NHS may not survive unless we can find £8 billion more.) Nor must we pay the similar amounts which will be demanded in future, figures arrived at in part, we hear, by EU estimates of the black economy, including our apparently very successful sex and drugs markets. I do not see why we should we be net contributors at all (as we have been in every year bar 1975.) We pay UK taxpayers’ money to an organisation which sets about wasting it unaccountably. This £1.7 billion has merely highlighted a laughably absurd reality – which must form a basic part of the renegotiation of our membership.

MPs are to be asked to vote to rejoin the European Arrest Warrant at the end of November to allow Romanian police, for example, to extradite Brits for activities which may be illegal in Romania, but are fine here. I will vote against it, as will many of my Conservative colleagues. Sadly the Lib-Dems will side with Labour to get it through. They will also try to prevent the tough limit on EU immigration, which the PM seems about to propose. “It’s illegal under EU law”, they say. “Very good,” say I. “Let’s ask our parliament to redraft the 1972 Act under which we joined the EU so decisions of parliament and the courts will always trump any EU decision.”

This and more must form part of the renegotiation process on which the PM is embarking. We must reassert every aspect of our freedoms as a nation state. Mr Barroso said he does not believe any of this can form part of that negotiation. He says we will get no support, that it may breach European law. Fine. If we cannot renegotiate along these lines and by 2017 have made little or no progress rolling back the European superstate, then we will campaign to leave your organisation.

This may be the start of a path towards leaving the EU, but only a Conservative government will make that possible by ensuring an in/out referendum in 2017. The less successful the negotiation may be the better (in my view) the outcome of that referendum will be.