Addressing the Conservative Party Conference in Bournemouth today, Philip Dunne, Conservative Candidate for Ludlow, supported the Party's tough stance on Europe. Speaking from the floor during the International Relations debate in Bournemouth International Conference he backed the Leadership's stance to start taking powers back from Brussels, to restore the European Union to its founding principles of an economic free trade area and customs union.

The text of his speech is set out below:-

Mr Chairman.

Only the Conservative Party can be trusted on Europe. Labour would surrender to Brussels tomorrow; the Liberal Democrats would do it today. People in Ludlow are fed up with the European Union. They are fed up with a remote bureaucracy meddling with their everyday lives. They are fed up with Britain always seeming to give up its cash, its traditions or its sovereignty and getting precious little in return. And they are fed up with Tony Blair's scheming attempts to trick them into both an alien constitution and scrapping the pound.

We must Vote No to a European Constitution. Brussels can forget about more powers. It is time for us to start taking powers back. Let us restore Europe to what's good for business and for the British people - a free trade area and customs union.

Only a Conservative government will stop the rot. Tony Blair has sold out to Brussels and is just waiting for the day he can hand over the keys.

As for the minor parties, they just play into Blair's hands. A vote for UKIP is a vote for Federalists, because it just makes life easier for a lame duck Tony Blair.

But unlike UKIP and the Liberal Democrats, WE won't make life easy for Tony Blair: We've already forced him to put the Euro on the back-burner; We've already forced him to concede a referendum on the Constitution; We've already forced him to use our language, if not our views.

We've done all this in Opposition,

Just think what we will do in Government.