Daily Express - IS THIS THE END OF THE 48-HOUR WEEK?

Britain could opt out of EU rules governing the hours people work, it was revealed yesterday

Monday October 31,2011

By Daily Express reporter

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BRITAIN could opt out of EU rules governing the hours people work, it was revealed yesterday.

The “best brains” in the Foreign Office were last night drawing up a blueprint to claw back powers from Brussels.

The UK already has a partial opt-out of the Working Time Directive, but critics claim it is still too restrictive. Doctors argue the 48-hour week maximum is unworkable, leaving too few surgeons to fill NHS rotas.

Also under fire is the Charter of Fundamental Rights. This was the directive that ruled that offering women drivers cheaper car insurance breached equal rights.

Tory rebel Douglas Carswell said: “We do not trust Whitehall to deliver any new deal on Europe without a gun to its head.”

Daily Express - TORY MPS IN FIGHT TO HALT £40BN FOR EU

David Cameron will come under pressure this week to block a European Union bid to grab £40billion

Monday October 31,2011

By Martyn Brown

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DAVID Cameron will come under pressure this week to block a fresh European Union bid to grab £40billion for its budget.

Eurosceptic MPs say they will try to force the Prime Minister to use his veto to stop the increase which would saddle British taxpayers with a colossal bill for the rest of this decade.

MPs will have the chance to debate proposals that would increase the EU’s budget for seven years covering 2014-2020 to one trillion euros (£898 billion).

It would amount to a 4.9 per cent rise on the funding for 2007-2013 – a rise of some £40billion.

Britain, France and Germany all say the budget increase, proposed by the European Commission, is unacceptably high.

It comes a week after 81 Conservatives rebelled against the PM to back a call for a referendum on UK membership of the European Union.

The Commons will be asked to back a Government motion that supports ministers’ “ongoing efforts to reduce the commission’s proposed budget”. 

David Cameron will come under pressure this week to block a European Union bid to grab £40billion

But it is likely that Tory MPs will demand that Britain uses its veto to block the increase.

Chris Heaton-Harris, one of the Tory referendum rebels, said: “Voters realise that if the EU’s budget goes up at a time when national governments are imposing cuts, then something is going wrong.”

Mr Cameron is already under massive pressure over Britain’s membership of the European Union.

Polls have suggested that two-thirds of the public – and 80 per cent of Tory voters – agreed with the referendum revolt last week. 

The Prime Minister also faces a separate Commons vote before Christmas on Britain’s contribution to next year’s annual EU budget, which MEPs want to raise by £5.7billion – an increase of an inflation-busting 5.23 per cent.

This would cost British taxpayers an extra £834million.

The increase, at a time when individual European states are having to cut public spending, is more than double the maximum approved by EU leaders earlier this year and would take the budget above £112billion in 2012.

James Elles, Conservative budget spokesman in the European Parliament, said: “Conservative MEPs are doing all they can to win value for taxpayers’ money in Europe. We know people cannot afford these increases.

“Sadly, there are still many colleagues who are focusing more on increasing expenditure than finding those areas where we can generate savings.

“As we call for a freeze for the 2012 budget, any increases must be offset with cuts from other areas of the budget.”

The proposed increase would raise Britain’s annual EU contribution to nearly £10billion a year, equivalent to more than £400 for every household in the country.

Earlier this month Foreign Secretary William Hague claimed that the Government had brought the EU budget “under control”.

But Britain has already poured billions into propping up ailing eurozone economies such as Greece, Portugal and Ireland. 

It is resisting any future handouts but EU finance ministers are now contemplating creating a £2trillion bail-out fund to prevent the collapse of the euro.

Officials in Brussels insist that not a penny can be shaved from their spending.

Philip Hollobone, also one of the 81 rebels, said: “Many backbenchers think that the seven-year EU budget is a very good opportunity for the government to use its veto if it does not get what it wants.” 

Daily Express - MPS VOW TO FIGHT ON FOR EU VOTE AS UK FACES BEING LEFT OUT IN COLD

 DEMANDS for a referendum on Europe intensified yesterday as a deal to solve the eurozone debt crisis paved the way for tighter union between single currency countries.

Eurosceptic MPs warned there was a real danger the 17 eurozone countries acting together will agree policies to suit themselves and attempt to sideline Britain.

But Chancellor George Osborne used a Commons statement to underline his credentials as a “eurosceptic” and told MPs the possibility of closer fiscal union between the eurozone states could offer a chance to “rebalance” the UK’s relationship with Brussels.

Vowing to protect Britain’s interests as talks on “a possible limited treaty change” began, he told them: “We will seek to rebalance the responsibilities between the EU and its member states which in our view have become unbalanced.”

Downing Street signalled its expectation that treaty changes to enforce the eurozone deal would not under UK law require a referendum as they would not involve handing more power to Brussels.

We will seek to rebalance the responsibilities between the EU and its member states which in our view have become unbalanced

Chancellor George Osborne

But rebel MPs made clear yesterday they would use the coming weeks to push their case for a referendum and attempts to win powers back from Brussels.

Senior eurosceptic Conservative Bill Cash – who has tabled legislation requiring a referendum in Britain on closer eurozone integration – challenged Mr Osborne to show why proposals “for a two-tier Europe” did not “represent a constitutional, economic and political fundamental change in the relationship between the EU and ourselves?”

Mr Osborne insisted it was in Britain’s interests that the euro worked, which meant more fiscal integration within the zone, providing the UK kept its influence on matters that were for all 27 EU countries to decide. 

Conservative MP David Nuttall, who led Monday’s Commons rebellion demanding an EU referendum, warned there was a “real danger” the eurozone “will start to agree policies to suit themselves and then impose them on the other 10 EU countries that, thankfully, like the UK, have not adopted the euro’’.

But insisting non-euro members were “alert” to the “danger’’, Mr Osborne told MPs that Prime Minister David Cameron had dined with his Polish and Swedish opposite numbers in Brussels on Wednesday, as eurozone members met to thrash out their deal, “to discuss precisely that issue”.

Daily Express - EU SUMMIT SEALS ONE TRILLION EURO DEAL AFTER MERKEL WARNS OF WAR IN EUROPE

Chancellor Angela Merkel at the German parliament yesterday

Thursday October 27,2011

By Macer Hall, Political Editor

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JUST hours after Germany issued a chilling warning that war could again engulf Europe, the EU summit made a desperate 1 trillion bid to save the euro.

Eurozone leaders sealed a three-part deal in the hope that the markets would be convinced there had been effective response to the crisis. 

Officials in Brussels said an accord had been reached with banks on a 50% write-off of Greek debt and they also approved a complex mechanism to boost the eurozone's main bailout fund to 1tr euro (£880bn).

Early signals in the markets showed the FTSE was 2 per cent higher this morning as investors delivered the long-awaited action plan. 

But only hours earlier, concerned about the consequences of a ­failure to deal with the crisis in the eurozone, German Chancellor Angela ­Merkel raised the spectre of military conflict.

Another half century of peace and prosperity in Europe is not to be taken for granted. If the euro fails, Europe fails.

German Chancellor Angela ­Merkel

“What is good for Europe is good for Germany,” she said.

“Another half century of peace and prosperity in Europe is not to be taken for granted. If the euro fails, Europe fails. We have a ­ historical obligation: To protect by all means Europe’s unification process begun by our forefathers after ­centuries of hatred and blood spill. None of us can foresee what the consequences would be if we were to fail.

“It cannot be that some time in the future they say the political generation responsible for Europe in the second decade of the 21st century has failed in the face of history.”

Mrs Merkel delivered her warning to the German parliament, where she won a crucial vote for backing emergency financial measures for the eurozone.

Her comments surprised many observers who suggested that now was a time for cool heads if the euro crisis was to be resolved, and it would not help to raise the spectre of war.

But British officials heading to Brussels for the chaotic crisis summit feared eurozone leaders had failed to scrabble together the “big bazooka” remedy needed to rescue the single currency, despite proposals for stitching together a trillion-plus euro rescue package.

One senior Tory in Brussels dismissed the plans as “a sticking plaster on a gaping wound”.

All 27 EU leaders backed a proposal to increase cash holdings to nine per cent of their balance sheets.

As the summit broke up last night, David Cameron said: “We made some good progress tonight.

“It’s very much in Britain’s interests that we sort out these problems and solve this crisis.

“We have made good progress on the bank recapitalisation; that wasn’t watered down, it has now been agreed. It will only go ahead when the other parts of a full package go ahead and further progress on that needs to ­happen tonight.” 

Mr Cameron was understood to be fiercely resisting attempts to squeeze more cash out of British taxpayers for saving the euro.

And he was putting pressure on eurozone leaders to sort out the debt crisis that threatens to plunge Europe – and the UK – into recession.

But there was growing scepticism among senior Tories that the eurozone in its present form can survive the crisis.

Martin Callanan, leader of the Tories in the European Parliament, said: “Once again we are being told this is the make or break summit.

“We were told the same on Sunday and the same before the summit before that.

“They march us to the top of the hill and march us down again.”

He added: “They may come up with another short-term fix, but it will all be based on borrowed money and shuffling of debt.

“Without addressing the fundamentals, it remains a sticking plaster on a gaping wound.”

Mr Osborne cautioned that it was now necessary to keep momentum up and deliver precise details on how the three-part agreement will work.

And he insisted that Britain will not contribute money to the European Financial Stability Facility bailout fund or to any IMF package specifically targeted at the eurozone area.

Daily Mail - IDS Threatens to quit over EU Referendum Stitch up

IDS threat to quit: I won't vote against my Eurosceptic principles again, warns ex-leader

• The Work and Pensions Secretary has been involved in a huge row with the Tory Chief Whip
• 'If you ever put me in this position again, that’s it,' he is believed to have said

By JAMES CHAPMAN

Last updated at 8:21 AM on 27th October 2011

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Row: Iain Duncan Smith has had a huge row with his party's chief whip over treatment during this week's contentious EU debate

Iain Duncan Smith has threatened to quit the Government if David Cameron ever again tries to force him to vote against his Eurosceptic principles.

The Work and Pensions Secretary and former Conservative leader had an extraordinary stand-up row with Chief Whip Patrick McLoughlin as MPs were ordered to oppose a referendum on Britain’s future in the EU, the Daily Mail has learned.

‘Iain said, “If you ever put me in this position again, that’s it”. He was extremely unimpressed with how the whole thing had been handled, and made clear what he would do if there’s any repeat,’ said one MP who witnessed the confrontation late on Monday night.

Several Cabinet ministers are understood to share a widespread view on Tory backbenches that Mr Cameron blundered badly when he decided to turn a vote designed as a non-binding expression of the view of Parliament on Britain’s future in the EU into a trial of strength.

A rebellion gathered pace, rather than receded, after the Prime Minister announced he was rushing the vote forward so he could attend himself and imposing a three-line whip – the toughest party instruction on how to vote – as well as threatening with the sack Government members who stepped out of line.

The two most staunchly Eurosceptic members of the Cabinet, Mr Duncan Smith and Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson, would have had to quit if they had joined a record 81 MPs who rebelled against Mr Cameron.



Yesterday, in an attempt to calm the row, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude insisted that the Coalition was committed to ‘rebalancing’ Britain’s relationship with Europe. Eurosceptic Cabinet ministers are understood to have extracted a promise from the Foreign Office that it will publish an analysis on how powers might be repatriated from Brussels.
But today Downing Street is accused of branding a hardcore of Eurosceptic Conservative MPs ‘sh**s’ – a claim that will further infuriate the rebels.


Abuse: Former Prime Minister John Major called rebels against him 'bastards' while David Cameron's aides are allegedly calling EU rebels 'sh**s'
As Mr Cameron faced renewed demands to use German calls for talks on EU treaty changes as part of the deal to save the euro as an opportunity to claw back powers from Brussels, his inner circle was said to have referred one group of rebel MPs in the most disparaging terms.
Sources close to him have called Tory Eurosceptics the ‘30 or 40 sh**s’ – a latter-day equivalent of John Major’s ‘bastards’, who he blamed for disrupting his premiership over European policy – according to the Spectator magazine.
In the Commons, the Prime Minister said his Government had already taken back powers by extracting the UK from the European bailout fund to shore up Greece’s economy. 
He branded Labour leader Ed Miliband a ‘complete mug’ for saying he did not think Brussels had too many powers.
‘The Coalition agreement does talk about rebalancing power between Britain and Europe,’ he said. 
Mr Cameron admitted there were differences between the Coalition parties, saying the Liberal Democrats wanted ‘some rebalancing’ and the Tories ‘a lot of rebalancing’. 
Mr Miliband, however, was ‘a complete mug who wants no rebalancing at all’. There are intriguing signs of the pro-EU Liberal Democrats shifting their position, raising the possibility that they might agree to an attempt to negotiate a limited repatriation of powers. 
Former leader Lord Ashdown said: ‘I don’t think Europe needs to be as intrusive as it is and so does Nick Clegg. 
‘What we’re talking about here is Europe having a greater say in the world because you work more closely together on defence, on security, on foreign affairs, on trade, where our future safety and jobs lie in a very inhospitable world, and at the same time we allow greater variation of nations to be able to govern their affairs on all those issues that touch on the citizen. I think that’s a more sensible balance. 


Pressure: David Cameron, flanked by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne during PMQ's yesterday, where he called Ed Miliband 'a complete mug'
‘But where Nick is right is in saying you can’t do this by unilateral grab – you can’t do that because the others will say “Thank you very much, no”.’ 
Several senior figures said privately that No 10 needed to shake up its political operation and reach out urgently to disaffected backbenchers. They warned Mr Cameron’s difficulties with his party went beyond Europe, suggesting he needed to change his leadership style and break out of his ‘cliquey’ inner circle. 
There is particular alarm in Tory high command at the number of new MPs who joined the rebellion. 
Of the 2010 intake, 48 broke ranks with Mr Cameron and voted in favour of a referendum. There are now calls for Mr Cameron to broaden his inner circle to improve relations. 
‘Michael Fallon [deputy party chairman] is the only Thatcherite in Downing Street,’ said one source. 
Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen, one of those who defied the Prime Minister, accused Mr Cameron of using ‘bullying tactics’ to try to force MPs into line. 
However, supporters of an EU referendum were warned they risk costing the party victory at the next general election. Major Tory donor and former party deputy chairman 
Lord Ashcroft branded the rebellion over Europe ‘self-indulgent’, and warned the message it will send to voters is that the party does not share their priorities.
He called on Tory MPs to get the issue of Europe ‘in proportion’ and focus on issues that really matter to voters – such as the economy, jobs, healthcare, crime and immigration.

I think they have it the wrong way round, I'd imagine a majority of the British public think that the party leaders are the sh**ts, not the rebels.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2053974/Iain-Duncan-Smith-I-wont-vote-Eurosceptic-principles-again.html#ixzz1byK7hxOl

Daily Express - SCANDAL OF EU'S £116BN BUDGET

The hike will mean the EU grabbing an extra £834million from British taxpayers

Thursday October 27,2011

By Daily Express Reporter

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EURO-MPs defied public outrage at the spiralling cost of Brussels last night by agreeing a “scandalous” £5.7billion hike in the European Union’s annual budget.

While European leaders tackled the euro zone debt crisis in Brussels the EU’s parliament in Strasbourg voted for an inflation-busting 5.23 per cent increase for 2012.

The hike will mean the EU grabbing an extra £834million from British taxpayers, raising the cost to every UK household to £575 next year.

The EU’s budget will reach an eye-watering £116billion in 2012, including £14.4billion from British taxpayers. Treasury officials warned the move will force further cuts on public spending at home while critics said it will increase the public backlash against the EU.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage said: “It is scandalous that during a time of austerity that the European Parliament is calling for a budget increase.”

Euro-MPs voted by 431 against 120 in favour of adopting the new budget, with 124 abstentions.

It is scandalous that during a time of austerity that the European Parliament is calling for a budget increase.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage

Supporters hailed the package as a “budget for growth, employment and innovation” that would “support development and democracy in neighbouring countries.”

Daily Express - WE'LL NEVER GIVE UP CRUSADE TO GET OUR COUNTRY BACK FROM EU

Daily Express, March 3rd 2011

Thursday October 27,2011

By Alison Little, Deputy Political Editor

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LEADING figures in the fight to give the British people a say on the UK’s future in the EU rallied behind the Daily Express last night as we renewed our vow to continue our crusade.

MPs and campaigners predicted that the clamour for Britain to leave Europe will keep growing.

They were undaunted by Monday’s vote in Commons where, under heavy pressure from all the main party leaders, MPs defeated a demand for a referendum.

More than 110 MPs, including 81 Tories, defied their leaders to back a referendum on whether Britain should stay in the EU, leave, or renegotiate membership terms.

Rebel leaders yesterday said they remained unbowed – and praised the Daily Express for leading and continuing the crusade.

Tory MP David Nuttall, who tabled the motion for Monday’s vote, said: “The clamour for a referendum on our membership will I believe only continue to grow as the EU continues to expand its interference into ever more areas of our national daily life.

It’s important that the Daily Express continues agitating because it’s becoming obvious to most people that the campaign to leave the EU has been vindicated

Tory rebel Philip Davies

“Our Better Off Out committee in Parliament will continue to meet and hopefully grow within Parliament. We need support outside the House, too, and we are reflecting that as well.”

Warning that the “repatriation of powers” from Brussels hinted at by David Cameron had never happened, he said: “Logically, a referendum on our membership is the way to go. I still believe one day it will happen.”

Fellow Tory rebel Philip Davies said: “What the Prime Minister ought to be doing is telling our colleagues in Brussels ‘This year we did our best to try and crush this idea and 100 people still voted for it, next year there will be 200 and 300 the year after’.

“I think Monday will come to be seen as a historic step towards our leaving the EU. I’m afraid that whatever the PM might hope, this is absolutely not going to go away and the amount of support we’ve had in Parliament and in the country – which is largely down to the Daily Express ­crusade – just encourages us to keep going. It’s important that the Daily Express continues agitating because it’s becoming obvious to most people that the campaign to leave the EU has been vindicated.

“The chaos today in Brussels is only hardening people’s opinion. The EU is clearly a busted flush and the sooner we get out the better.”

Amid a report in today’s Spectator magazine that aides of Mr Cameron have started referring to “about 30 to 40 *****” who will take any chance to have a go at the PM, Mr Davies insisted rebels voted on the issue – not as an attack on their leader.

Jon Gaunt, of the Vote UK Out of EU campaign, said: “Monday was just one skirmish in what is going to be a long war but which can have only one victor: the British people when we get our country back. If Mr Cameron got a bloody nose on Monday night, our message is he ain’t seen nothing yet.

“The chaos in the eurozone just illustrates that we cannot afford to be part of this expensive and undemocratic club and with the help of the Daily Express’s brilliant crusade, the British people will win.”

COMMENTARY: CHRIS ROYCROFT-DAVIS

AFTER this current EU summit, the honourable thing for our Government to do will be to come back from Brussels, set out honestly the pros and cons of EU membership in the light of whatever deal has been struck and then hold a full and informed Commons debate on holding a referendum before Christmas.

It should end with a free vote on whether this referendum should be held in 2012 so that we can determine our destiny.

We didn’t fight two wars to save Europe from dictators only to have our own sovereignty trampled in the dirt.

Like cats fighting over a rotting fish, the leaders of Europe screech and wail up a dark alley.

Germany’s Angela Merkel fears the downfall of the EU’s 60-year reich and claims: “If the euro fails, Europe fails.”

Meanwhile French President Nicolas Sarkozy warns of a threat to peace. They are both talking rubbish, of course.

It’s the very existence of the euro and the notion that one currency and one economic policy could work for nations as diverse as the hard-working Germans, the lazy Italians and the corrupt Greeks that is causing Europe to fail.

As for war, does the French President really think German tanks will be parked on someone else’s lawn?

Best put the cork back in the Chateau Petrus before he tries to scare us with any more fantasies.

The leaders of the EU are in disarray because they haven’t got a clue how to get themselves out of the monumental financial and political disaster they have created.

The idea that the tax-evading Greeks should be allowed to write off half their massive debts and then receive another multi-billion bailout on top is economic madness.

It’s like trying to put out a fire by throwing a gallon of petrol on it.

In all of history there has never been a more corrupt, more undemocratic, more lunatic tower of Babel than the European Union.

Yet the British Prime Minister – and a Conservative one at that – does not believe his people should have the chance to determine whether their country stays in the EU because he says the time is not right. When will it be right for him – when it’s too late?

His political pygmy of a Lib Dem deputy, a man who wouldn’t recognise an honest principle if it fell on him, says he won’t allow Britain to repatriate powers from Brussels. This from a man whose party doesn’t even score double figures in the polls.

Do our leaders think we are idiots whose opinions don’t count?

Do they think they’re the only ones clever enough to understand what the EU’s all about?

Let me tell Messrs Cameron, Clegg and Miliband this: The people recognise a con trick when they see one.

They don’t believe Britain will be mortally wounded if it leaves the EU, just as they don’t fall for idiotic warnings about war.

The current fiddling while Rome burns (not to mention Athens, Madrid and Lisbon) is not about economics at all.

It’s about the egos of a political elite who thought they’d built an empire which would keep them in power for ever, only to discover the foundations are quicksand and the bricks are crumbling.

Any fix that comes out of Brussels will undoubtedly require a new treaty to be signed.

I can’t believe Mr Cameron will lie to us the way his predecessor Gordon Brown did over the Lisbon Treaty and claim the new deal is neither new nor a deal and therefore doesn’t need to be ratified by a referendum.

He must take the argument to Parliament.