News from
David Sumberg MEP
Spring
2002
Conservative Member of the European Parliament for the North West of England
WELCOME TO NEW READERS
Thanks to a number of local Associations, which have kindly agreed to send my regular newsletter with their constituency mailout, this may be the first time you have received it - if so, a very warm welcome. I try to give a brief insight into what is happening in Brussels and Strasbourg and into the work I am doing in the European Parliament. If you have any comments or queries you would like to raise, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me, or with one of my fellow Conservative MEPs for the North West,
Richard Inglewood
Robert Atkins
Den Dover
Jacqueline Foster
We are all here to help and work together as a team on your behalf.
IT'S THEIR MONEY, NOT OURS
January 1st saw the arrival of the euro and the abolition of the franc, the mark and the peseta and a number of other European currencies. I remain convinced that Iain Duncan Smith is right to oppose British membership. There is a world of difference between shoppers being able to use the euro in Britain, as some retailers have decided, and Britain joining the euro and having the same interest rate, the same exchange rate and eventually the same higher levels of taxation and unemployment as other European countries. We must be ready to fight this proposal if Tony Blair ever has the courage to put it to the British people.
ALL CHANGE
We’ve got a new leadership team in the Conservative delegation in the European Parliament. Jonathan Evans, a former MP and colleague from my days in the House of Commons, is now our leader. Teresa Villiers, one of our Conservative MEPs from London, is our new deputy leader. As we are midway through our parliamentary mandate, many of the Committee places and other parliamentary appointments also change and I am now both a full member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and our Party spokesman on the enlargement of the European Union – an important issue which will affect the amount of structural funds our North West region receives.
FOOT AND MOUTH ENQUIRY
It’s rarely possible to report good news for British farmers, particularly from Europe, but this is one of the times that I can. The disastrous foot and mouth outbreak brought untold damage to the North West, particularly Cumbria, and Tony Blair has consistently refused a proper investigation into the Labour government’s handling of the crisis. Now the European Parliament has stepped in, setting up a wide-ranging enquiry. This was something which Conservative MEPs campaigned hard to achieve despite the attempts by Britain’s Labour MEPs to block it.
DOWN THE DRAIN
I am afraid that I have to report little progress during the year in tackling eurofraud and waste. The European Parliament was recently told that the EU lost £2.5 billion from its annual budget because of fraud and mismanagement by member states. This sum equates to 5% of the total European Commission budget and to a loss of £15 for every family in Europe. This is quite unacceptable and despite the Commission’s attempt at reform, nothing seems to change. I shall continue to argue that before the EU even thinks of expanding its responsibilities, such as foreign policy and taxation, it should first put its own house in order.
OUT AND ABOUT
It’s been a busy few months both in the Parliament and throughout the region.Meetings I have attended in the North West have included the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, Cumbria Conservative Councillors Group Meeting in Kendal, Rochdale Council, plus dinners with Lancashire Tory County Councillors and speaking engagements in Bolton, Blackburn, Bury South, Liverpool, Grange over Sands, Oldham & Royton and Lancaster & Wyre. I am also pleased to report many visitors to Brussels and Strasbourg including Councillor Paul Findlow, our leader on Cheshire County Council, Manchester Chamber of Commerce, Manchester Airport Group (to urge greater government help for airport security), Stretford and Urmston Association and Barrow in Furness Sixthform College. Quite a varied snapshot of life in our region and all very helpful for my work in the Parliament.
IT'S COLD OUTSIDE
From the beginning of this year, there has been a European directive making it compulsory for the insulating foam containing chlorofluorocarbons to be removed from all fridges on their disposal for environmental reasons. Despite having had eighteen months to prepare for this, the Labour government has done absolutely nothing and as a result, there is complete chaos. There are no processing plants in the UK for fridges, thus making it physically impossible for British consumers to comply with the legislation. As a result, all of us will have to store our old fridges, at our expense, until appropriate facilities are constructed and many irresponsible people will simply dump their fridges illegally. Another example, I am afraid, of Labour in government failing to plan ahead.