Conservative Member of the European Parliament for the North West of England

The first year of life as an MEP has been all about getting to know how the European Parliament works - who's who, how to best represent you at a European level, and how to fulfill our 1999 Manifesto commitments. In this newsletter I highlight what I have been doing on the Continent -I hope you enjoy it.

What Strasbourg Folly

Every time I go to the Parliament plenary sessions in Strasbourg, I marvel at the extraordinary waste of it all. The nonsense of interminable travel to Strasbourg every month costs us all over £90 million per year. Sadly the French seem immovable on this issue - despite overwhelming pressure from the vast majority of MEPs, they insist on having the seat of Parliament on French soil. Fearing the possible consequences, the 14 other Member States refuse to exert real pressure on France over this issue.

Chocolate Victory in Europe

After a fierce debate, a vote in Parliament in Strasbourg recently led to the acceptance of British chocolate on the continent. What a great success for the thousands of British employees and of course for millions of European consumers who will now benefit from choice. British chocolate can be sold anywhere in Europe without having to alter our recipe and without a ridiculous labelling scheme which implies that our chocolate is in some way inferior. After the debate was over, two of my Conservative colleagues - Theresa Villiers MEP and John Bowis MEP, and myself - handed out some British chocolate just to show our continental colleagues how good it is.

Supporting Local Employers

I recently had a meeting with BNFL Chairman, Hugh Collum. Times have been hard recently for the nuclear fuel industry but improvements in safety have been made. We should remember that BNFL is a major employer in me region and must not be hounded out by disproportionate shock media response - the result would be the same regional devastation as that caused by the demise of Rover.

Fighting Beef Sanctions in Brussels

The beef war continues as France insists on dragging its feet over the findings of the EU scientific committee - which unanimously confirmed the safetv of British. EU Health Commissioner David Byrne, like our own Government, caved in to the usual French bully-boy tactics - saying it was “not unreasonable to take on board the concerns of the French authorities" The simple fact is that French farmers have done very well out of the ban on British beef. The truth is that they know British beef is safe but are worried that once it hits France the superior quality of British beef will hurt their own farming industry.

What Businesses Want

MEPs are involved in creating the legislative framework within which businesses operate. I am obviously concerned with the weilbeing of local - usually small –business. I am determined to listen to their voice and to fight for their interests in Europe. I recently met the Road Haulage Association (North West Branch) in Manchester. They were worried about unfair competition, and heavy taxation imposed by the Labour Government. Under such circumstances it is hardly surprising that UK haulage businesses decide to register and buy their fuel abroad. W hat a good example of high taxation leading to falling revenue.

MEPs in Action

An important part of my work is to brief people on the role of an MEP and I recently did that at a meeting of the North West Branch of the Engineering Employers Federation in Bolton. After explaining what part an MEP-plays in the creation of legislation in Europe, we discussed existing and forthcoming health and safety legislation.

Congratulations

Well done to all those new Conservative Councillors who won seats in the recent local elections. Our party's recovery depends on rebuilding our local Government base so many congratulations to all those who worked so hard for this excellent

Putting Pen to Paper

I receive a number of enquiries from constituents so please do feel free to contact me. I’m also delighted to visit and speak at local associations so do let me know if you would like to hear more about what goes on in Europe.