After the 2009 local elections, Wiltshire County Council will be known as Wiltshire Council or W.C!
Post offices: point the finger at Brussels
Monday, 17 March 2008
There is a continuous stream of media coverage about the battle to save post offices but the great elephant in the room, the role of the European Union, is mysteriously never mentioned, writes Jeffrey Titford, UK Independence Party MEP for Eastern Counties.
Did you know that the government has to go to the European Commission, cap in hand, for permission to subsidise the Post Office? Since 2003, the Commission has frozen the subsidy the government can pay to cover the loss-making parts of the service, like small local post offices in urban and rural areas, at £150 million per annum.
On 29th November 2007, the Commission authorised the government’s public funding plans for the Post Office for the period 1st April 2008 to 31st March 2011. It is a total package of £634 million but the amount to cover the loss-making part of the operation remains frozen at £150 million per annum. The rest of the money must be used to fund a loan facility so that cash services at counters can be provided and to cover the cost of the government’s closure programme.
It is clear that the British government is no longer in control and neither is Royal Mail, though both take the flack, when closures are announced. The reality is that because it has frozen the annual £150 million subsidy for so long, the European Commission is responsible for post office closures. With inflation, the subsidy becomes worth less each year, so more post offices have to close.
I have considerable concern about the new proposals from Essex County Council and other local authorities, who are looking at taking over post offices from Royal Mail. Will the EU approve of this arrangement? It constitutes state aid and will presumably be over and above the package agreed with Brussels. We don’t want to spend large amounts of public money on setting up council run post offices, only for the EU to say “naughty, naughty you can’t do that.”
You might also like to know that the European Parliament approved the new EU Postal Directive on 31st January 2008, which means that from 1st January 2011, the market in postal delivery must be fully opened up to competition. There will be no more national monopolies like Royal Mail. Parcel and package deliveries are already open to competition but this new ruling will, for the first time, include letters under 50 grams or 1.75 ounces.
This ‘liberalisation’ of the market is dressed up as being of great benefit to the consumer but it really means that competitors will cherry pick the best parts of the Royal Mail service and it will be left with the unprofitable bits, like rural deliveries. Once the Royal Mail is out of the picture, costs to the consumer will inevitably rise and quality may suffer.
It is time for a reality check in the great Post Office debate. Let’s point the finger in the right direction – Brussels.
Published in the East Anglian Daily Times
Tangled Tories get nets in a knot over fishing 06-09-2006
The Conservative Party's fisheries policy became even more tangled today (6.9.06), as Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson confirmed his Party’s intention to remain within the Common Fisheries Policy, despite saying it was a ‘disaster’.
Mr Stevenson, highlighting his ability to face both ways at the same time, stated that CFP withdrawal might still be an ultimate sanction, before confirming that withdrawal would be illegal under the terms of EU membership. As chairman of the European Parliament’s fisheries committee, he was responsible for requesting that the CFP be included in the failed EU Constitution.
Nigel Farage MEP, UKIP’s representative on the fisheries committee, described Mr Stevenson’s comments as ‘Janus like’ and said: “The Conservative Party have really got their nets in a knot over the fisheries policy. Mr Stevenson’s comments simply highlight the tangle at the heart of Tory policy.
“They need to retain a Eurosceptic image while supporting Europhile policies. Who better to defend their Blue Labour image than an MEP who supported the idea that the EU Constitution needed to cover more areas?”.
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Not Negotiable 16-01-2007
Mr Cameron said the next Tory government would opt out of the European Social Chapter. But this provoked a scathing response from the Ukip leader, Nigel Farage: "Britain cannot just 'opt-out' of the Social Chapter because it's now part of the Treaty of Amsterdam and fully enshrined in EU law, which the Conservative Party is fully committed to."
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Be a school thug and win a mountain bike or an iPod!!!! 13-04-2007
School thugs are to be offered mountain bikes and iPods in return for good behaviour. In a Labour government campaign against soaring indiscipline, teachers are beig told to reward disruptive pupils with prizes and priviledges. Badly-behaved youngsters must be praised 5 times as often as they are punished or criticised under guidelines unveiled by Education Secretary Alan Johnson.
Robin Tingey says:
Well behaved pupils in most of the world have little prospect of these kind of goodies. This is almost like an incentive to behave badly in order to get put on a behaviour improvement program. If there are any rewards they should be available to ALL pupils. Bad behaviour should be punished properly.
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Burning the midnight oil 31-05-2007
Dalkeith High School in Midlothian has been unused since 2003. In spite of this, the Council has spent £13,000 maintaining it, of which £3,000 on lighting alone.
"Some lights - including some on timers - are left on during the winter months to protect potential intruders from fall hazards," said a spokesman for Midlothian Council.
Not just a waste, but also helping vandals! How daft can you get?
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In case you are wondering what "Family Milk Chocolate" is: 02-06-2007
Belgium, France and other continental countries hate UK milk chocolate, because of its high content of milk fat (up to 20%) and vegetable fat (up to 5%).
When the UK joined the EEC in 1973, it secured an opt out from the Cocoa and Chocolate Products Directive, which would have outlawed our types of chocolate. It has always been difficult for UK chocolate makers to sell their product on the continent.
There was a plan by the EEC (as it was then known) to harmonise the chocolate regulations, and french campaigners were calling for UK chocolate to be renamed "Vegelate" and not be allowed to be called chocolate.
Only recently has harmonisation been introduced at the initiative of the European Commission and ratified by the European Parliament a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately we don't have to rename our chocolate as "vegelate". It now has to be called "Family Milk Chocolate" or its nearest equivalent in the local language (Haushaltsmilchschokolade in German, or in French chocolat de ménage au lait). It does mean that at last UK chocolate can be easily sold on the continent.
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FRAUD 07-10-2007
Did you know that the EU's own financial regulation 2342/2002 Article 87 (4) says that there is no need to attempt recovery of any sum less than 1 million euros?!
Current levels of Fraud are estimated at £220 million per year.
Last update 13th April 2008