I recently debated the new EU constitution with Marc Glendening, a prominent anti-EU campaigner, in the pages of The Ecologist magazine. Marc argued that decisions are best taken locally and that this is a reason to abandon the EU. In reply, I point out that decisions should indeed be taken locally wherever possible, but there are some issues that cut across national borders - including many environmental issues. Pollution, for instance, does not respect national boundaries. In these areas, acting in isolation is simply ineffective, and the new constitution therefore provides a democratic and efficient way of acting together with our neighbours.

A full transcript of our debate is available here on my website.