Fresh Start was a grouping within the

British Conservative Party The Conservative and Unionist Party, commonly the Conservative Party and colloquially known as the Tories, is one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party. The party sits on the centre-right to right- ...

opposed to the

Maastricht Treaty The Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, is the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU). Concluded in 1992 between the then-twelve Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Communities, ...

. It was founded by

Michael Spicer William Michael Hardy Spicer, Baron Spicer, (22 January 1943 – 29 May 2019) was a British politician and life peer who was a Conservative member of the House of Lords from 2010 until 2019. He served as Member of Parliament for West Worces ...

and its members included

Bill Cash Sir William Nigel Paul Cash (born 10 May 1940) is a British politician who served as a member of Parliament (MP) from 1984 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he was first elected for Stafford and then for Stone in Staffordshire in ...

, James Cran, Christopher Gill and Roger Knapman. In the mid-1990s over fifty Conservative MPs were members. They organised votes against

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...

's government and in all they voted against the government 985 times and abstained 1,515 times in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the Maastricht Treaty being ratified.

References

*Anthony Forster, ''Euroscepticism in Contemporary British Politics'' (Routledge, 2002). Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom Organisations associated with the Conservative Party (UK) {{UK-poli-stub