Abridged article for the September 2004 edition of the Bournemouth Press.

The EU needs to be reformed, powers returned to the UK, or we hold a referendum and let the British people decide if we are in or out.

With power moving increasingly away from Westminster to Brussels, (70% of the UK's laws are now made in Brussels), Tobias Ellwood is calling for Britain to take a tougher line on Europe.

Across Europe ordinary people are seeing how powerful Brussels is becoming as decision making is taken away from individual countries. Unelected commissioners and some European leaders, including Tony Blair, are pursuing a federal agenda which is now out of tune with the views of ordinary people in Europe. The proposed EU constitution will embed the EU's federal powers still further.

The 10 Eastern European countries who recently joined the EU did not free themselves from decades of rule from Moscow only to replace it with Brussels. Closer co-operation -Yes, but a country called Europe - No.

As one of the influential countries in Europe the UK should make one last effort to reform the EU back to what it was supposed to be; a free trade area. If this fails and a federal Europe is the destiny for the EU, we should hold a referendum and let the British people - not the politicians decide our future.