CAMERON FACING A FIGHT OVER NEW EURO RESCUE BID

David Davis opposes more aid

Monday February 6,2012

By Macer Hall

 Have your say(4)

A TORY revolt against Government moves to pour billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money into a fresh euro bailout intensified last night.

Former ministers David Davis, John Redwood and Lord Tebbit became the most senior Conserv- atives to threaten to vote against the proposal.

It means that David Cameron is facing a potentially bigger rebellion than when 81 Tory MPs backed a referendum call on Britain’s membership of the European Union.

The row comes after the Inter- national Monetary Fund called for an extra £320billion to help stabilise the world economy.

Treasury officials are braced for the IMF to demand a further £17.5billion from Britain, on top of a current investment of around £30billion. But MPs suspect that much of the cash could be used to ease the acute debts of Greece, Portugal, Italy and other crisis- hit eurozone nations.

Mr Davis, a former Europe Minister who challenged Mr Cameron for the Tory leadership, said: “Giving more money to the IMF to help Europe would be throwing good money after bad.

“I cannot think of a single reform the Europeans could make that would justify giving more British taxpayers’ money to propping up the eurozone.”

He said he feared that the Con- tinent was facing the prospect of “a Japanese-style lost decade”.

John Redwood, a Cabinet min- ister in the last Tory government, predicted that a majority of Tory backbenchers would vote against handing more money to the IMF. 

He said: “We fully support the Chancellor when he says he does not want extra IMF money to be given to prop up a currency. 

“I am happy for IMF money to go and help poor African countries, not to bailout broke but rich Western economies. Greece is no longer a sovereign country. It is a region in a currency union.” 

Tory peer Lord Tebbit, a Cabinet minister in Margaret Thatcher’s government, predicted a major revolt on the issue in the House of Lords. He said: “Giving more money to the IMF to help the eurozone would be like throwing combustible fuel on a burning house. There would be a sizeable revolt in the Lords on this.”

Chancellor George Osborne has repeatedly refused to rule out extra British investment in the IMF and has said the cash must be used to support “countries and not currencies”.

But many Tory MPs and peers believe his formula leaves room for the IMF to pour money into Greece and other eurozone countries.

No date has yet been set for a Commons vote as the IMF has yet to make a formal approach to Britain, but the Government will not be able to hand over more cash without first asking MPs.

The vote could be on a knife- edge. Last month, Labour leader Ed Miliband signalled that his party might not support the Government on the issue, saying: “You can’t have a sticking-plaster solution to the eurozone’s problems.”

WHY UK CANNOT DEPORT THOUSANDS OF CRIMINALS

Over 1,400 Polish and Irish prisoners serve time in British jails at taxpayers’ expense / GETTY

Sunday February 5,2012

By Jon Coates and Kirsty Buchanan

THOUSANDS of European criminals in British jails will not be sent home despite the introduction of a new prisoner transfer deal among EU member states.

The deal, which came into force last month, is designed to allow countries to ease overcrowding in their prisons by deporting offenders back to their native land.

Since the agreement was first signed in 2008 only two nations have reached a deal with Britain, both securing opt-outs from the project.

Labour ministers allowed Poland to dodge its obligations for five years while Ireland negotiated a complete opt-out.

It leaves more than 1,400 Polish and Irish prisoners serving time in British jails at taxpayers’ expense. Offenders from the two nations make up more than a third of all the European inmates in the UK.

Labour MPs last week rounded on the coalition for failing to secure any new agreements on the prisoner transfer deal since the election in 2010 but Prisons Minister Crispin Blunt criticised the previous Government for letting Poland and Ireland off the hook.

Knowing this, I cannot believe the last Labour government allowed these countries to opt out of the new prisoner transfer agreements

bill of millions of pounds. Andrew Percy, Tory MP for Brigg and Goole

Conservative MPs last night accused former Labour ministers of landing taxpayers with an unnecessary bill of millions of pounds.

Andrew Percy, Tory MP for Brigg and Goole, said: “Members of any Government do not need to be brain surgeons to work out that the biggest foreign providers of our prison population are Poland and Ireland.

“Knowing this, I cannot believe the last Labour government allowed these countries to opt out of the new prisoner transfer agreements.

“There should be no EU prisoners in British prisons. They should be in prisons in their own countries, being paid for by their own taxpayers. This is another example of how the EU seems to perpetually work against British interests.” There are 11,077 foreign prisoners in British jails, 4,293 of them European. In December 2011, Polish and Irish prisoners accounted for 1,493 of the total.

Dominic Raab, Tory MP for Esher and Walton, said: “The fact that we can’t deport prisoners convicted of serious crimes is a damning indictment of the flimsy EU arrangements.”

Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, said: “We have prisons rapidly approaching full capacity, so we do not need them clogged up with foreigners who could quite easily be serving their sentences back in their own countries. It was obviously rather slack of the last Government to negotiate a deal which was bad for our interests.”

Alp Mehmet, vice-chairman of MigrationWatch UK, said: “The previous government did a lot of things in regard to immigration which they should not have done, which have come back to bite us. This is one of those changes.

“The opt-out for Ireland is slightly different, as they are part of a common travel area but with regard to other EU nations, opt-outs are hard to accept.”

BBC ‘IS £3M BRUSSELS PROPAGANDA ARM’

MP Priti Patel fears for BBC balance

Friday February 3,2012

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THE BBC was accused yesterday of becoming the “propaganda arm” of the European Union after it admitted pocketing nearly £3million in grants from Brussels since 2007.

The corporation has also revealed that its commercial arm BBC Worldwide has borrowed more than £141million from the European Investment Bank since 2003 – and £30million is still due to be repaid by the end of May this year.

The disclosures sparked fury among MPs and campaign groups who question BBC impartiality.

Details of the financial handouts were disclosed in a letter to Conservative MP Karl McCartney who obtained the information through a Parliamentary Question.

Ukip MEP Paul Nuttall, said: “The old joke that the BBC is the Brussels Broadcasting Corporation may be true after all.”

Questions have been raised about the uncritical tone of the BBC’s EU coverage. David Cameron’s historic veto of an EU treaty at the end of last year was reported from the perspective of Brussels – rather than the British taxpayers who pay the wages of the BBC’s vast army of correspondents and executives. In 2010 Jonathan Charles, the BBC’s former Brussels correspondent, admitted he and the BBC got carried away by the launch of the euro in 2002.

How can a public-service broadcaster demonstrate genuine impartiality on European issues if it is in receipt of EU funds?

Tory MP Priti Patel

And Eurosceptic think-tank Global Britain found that over the past six years just 0.04 per cent of coverage on Radio 4’s Today programme was devoted to the potential benefits of withdrawing from the EU.

Tory MP Priti Patel warned: “How can a public-service broadcaster demonstrate genuine impartiality on European issues if it is in receipt of EU funds?” 

Robert Oxley, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “The Beeb has a strong tradition of an independent broadcaster holding politicians to account. It won’t want to see that reputation compromised by taking euros from the EU.”

A BBC spokesman said: “Grants from the EU make up a relatively small proportion of the total figure. The vast majority of EU grants are used for research and development.

“BBC News does not receive any grant funding from the EU. Impartiality and balanced reporting is and always will be of paramount importance for the BBC.”

BBC Worldwide, which sells BBC programmes around the world, said there were “no editorial conditions” to its loans from the European bank, which lent at a cheaper rate than other commercial institutions.

Last year it emerged the BBC’s little-known international development arm had picked up £15.5million in EU grants since 2007.

The money has been handed to the BBC World Service Trust, a charity set up to run the corporation’s massive overseas aid operation.

A £2.3million EU handout went to a BBC project to “assist digital switchover in Serbia” in 2010.

One particularly obscure project was to “unblock the cocoa value chain in eastern Sierra Leone”.

Commentary with Karl McCartney, MP for Lincoln

MANY people who believe in the need to ensure the impartiality of the BBC, particularly in respect of its news and current affairs coverage, will be shocked by the corporation’s EU loans and grants.

There has long been concern by many at what can only be described as Left-wing reporting, particularly, though not solely, in matters relating to Britain’s relationship with Europe.

I, and many others I know, have the BBC complaints line on speed dial on our mobiles.

Even Mark Thompson, the BBC’s director general, has accepted the corporation had previously been guilty of a “massive” Left-wing bias.  Mr Thompson has also admitted that the BBC’s coverage of Europe had been “weak and rather nervous”.

Genuine impartiality, however, is vital to the taxpayer-funded BBC maintaining its reputation as the cornerstone of UK public service broadcasting. The BBC claims to be aware of people’s concerns, and I gather that the organisation has recently implemented “annual impartiality reviews”, along with “impartiality seminars” for staff. 

However, in the light of these EU loans, and the BBC’s often one-sided coverage of EU matters, it is now incumbent on the BBC to explain very clearly to the British people how it intends to ensure the organisation’s impartiality, in respect of its Left-leaning reporting, in the future. 

Until such time, I think people will quite rightly continue to question what influence the EU exerts, financially or otherwise, over “our” BBC.

THE BBC IN EU BIAS SHOCKER, STOP THE PRESS! why do I pay my license fee?

EU VOTES TO SLAP ITS FLAG ON BRITAIN’S TEAM SHIRTS

EU flag flying in front of Big Ben / JONATHAN BUCKMASTER

Friday February 3,2012

By Alison Little

A BID to get British sports stars to wear the EU flag on their kit became a step closer to reality yesterday.

A call for sports bodies to consider the move – along with flying the EU flag at ­international sporting events in the UK – cleared its final stage in the European ­Parliament in Brussels.

The controversial proposal will now go to the European Commission to consider how to draw up legislation to put before member states for approval.

But already some British MEPs have denounced the scheme.

Ukip deputy leader Paul Nuttall, a former footballer with Tranmere Rovers, had warned before the Brussels vote against letting the EU pose as a “state’’.

He asked: “Are we now going to see the EU flag at the British Olympics or at the Champions League final or even on the shirt of the England captain?

“This is nothing more than sheer EU propaganda and vanity. The EU has never been so unpopular but here you are wanting to stamp your flag on sporting stars in the hope you can force the people to love you, but they won’t.’’

Conservatives cried foul over this every step of the way, only to see MEPs on the Liberal and Socialist benches effectively wave ‘Play on'

Tory MEP sports spokeswoman Emma McClarkin

He also feared the move broke the ban on sports bodies’ using political slogans on sports kit – because the EU was “in effect a political organisation’’.

“Athletes proudly wear the flag of their own national countries. They should not wear the flag of the European Union.”

After yesterday’s vote, Mr Nuttall added: “This absurd proposal is little more than propaganda but it clearly shows how far the unelected mob in Brussels is prepared to go in order to interfere with every area of our lives.

“A nation’s football, cricket or rugby team should only display their national flag, not an EU symbol representing an unaccountable and increasingly unwanted superstate.’’

The Conservatives, like Ukip, were opposed to the plan, but felt let down by Labour and the Lib Dems.

Tory MEP sports spokeswoman Emma McClarkin said last night: “Conservatives cried foul over this every step of the way, only to see MEPs on the Liberal and Socialist benches effectively wave ‘Play on’.’’

The outcry came despite the proposal being watered down last year from the original demands.

This was largely due to a campaign led the Daily Express, which highlighted the move on its front page in July.

The initial draft would have required the blue and yellow European Union flag to be flown at major sports events held on EU ­territory, and suggested that “it should be displayed’’ on the clothing of member states’ athletes.

After the backlash, it was diluted to just “suggesting’’ both that the flag be flown at “major international sports events’’ held in the EU, and that sports bodies “consider’’ putting it on teams’ kit.

It also underlined it was “entirely voluntary and up to member states and sports organisations’’ to decide whether to use the “option’’.

However, opponents warned it still showed that eurocrat fanatics were intent on stamping out nation states’ identities and interfering in every aspect of people’s lives. Despite the financial crisis engulfing the eurozone, the flag issue had taken up MEPs’ time at seven committee meetings, culminating in final speeches on Wednesday night and yesterday’s vote by the whole European Parliament.

British Labour MEPs opposed the flag idea but backed a report which included banning sports agents from working in the EU unless they pay taxes there. The Lib Dems voted for both.

Tory Ms McClarkin told MEPs: “Sport has a special place in my country, and our national teams form a key part of our identities and heritage.

“The EU cannot impose an artificial European identity on us by forcing our athletes to wear its emblem.’’

She added: “There are 35 million volunteers in sports in Europe, providing the opportunities for other citizens to participate and stay active. Sadly, this report is focused mainly at professional levels, leaving amateur and grassroots sport with little support.

“It instead looks for ways to develop an artificial European identity by exploiting the popularity of professional sport in Europe. It is a wasted opportunity.’’

Farage walks out of EU Parliament after his microphone is switched off

OUTSPOKEN British MEP Nigel Farage stormed out of the European Parliament after its German chairman cut him off in mid-flight for comparing Berlin's ideas for Greece to Nazi control.

During a post-EU summit debate featuring top bloc leaders, Mr Farage criticised a leaked German plan for EU control of Greek public spending, saying bailed out Athens was already practically an EU "colony, a terrible huge mistake."

Mr Farage, a former City banker in London who is now a popular television political pundit, described the German finance ministry proposals as installing "a gauleiter," a Nazi party regional official under Adolf Hitler.

Darling of the English right, Mr Farage said of the Berlin proposal: "Suggesting an EU commissioner and his staff occupy a big building in Athens and take over the running of the country, a 'gauleiter' some may say, I thought it must be a joke."

The comment provoked uproar, especially among German MEPs, with Greens lawmaker Reinhard Buetikofer accusing the UK Independence Party (UKIP) chief of spreading "hatred in the European Parliament, hatred between European peoples".

Newly-installed parliament speaker Martin Schulz also intervened with a comment about nationalism, before Farage came back: "We have German newspapers slagging off the Greeks for being lazy and useless, slagging off the Italians for being cowards and we have Italian and Greek newspapers depicting leading figures in Germany wearing Nazi uniforms."

Mr Farage was called to order from the speaker's chair, before Mr Schulz turned off his microphone, Mr Schulz's spokesman Armin Machmer said.

Mr Farage finally had no option but to "walk out of the chamber in disgust," his spokesman Hermann Kelly said.

Mr Farage, who said he was only repeating a word used in British media at the weekend, later lodged a formal complaint saying Mr Schulz - long a sparring partner before the German became speaker last month - stepped beyond the boundaries of his authorised role as moderator.

"His only answer was to threaten me with removal from the chamber by the ushers," Mr Farage told AFP.

Machmer had told AFP that Mr Farage could face a fine of up to 10 days' parliamentary allowances, should Mr Schulz, a Socialist on the opposite side of the political fence from Germany's ruling coaltion, decide to take action.

Once seen as a maverick, Mr Farage is now widely viewed as a standard-bearer for a growing rump of mainly English voters who want a referendum on ending European Union membership.

He secured a million votes at the last general election, surviving a helicopter crash on polling day and a series of operations on his back to boost his popularity.

His party's advances have ensured that pressure remains high on Prime Minister David Cameron over Europe - as again seen in the wake of Monday night's summit in Brussels.

Mr Farage and fellow eurosceptics in Mr Cameron's Conservatives are also eyeing Scotland's upcoming vote on full political independence from the rest of the United Kingdom as a key opportunity in their quest.

The incident can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?vx4eLJEWZ7Kk&featureyoutu.be

UK government warned it will 'regret' EU treaty veto

The UK government has been warned it will "regret" refusing to sign up to the EU's new treaty on enforcing budgetary discipline.

Joseph Daul, who leads the parliament's centre-right EPP group, made the claim during a debate on 1 February 2012 on the recent summit of EU leaders.

The summit saw 25 of the 27 EU government sign up to the treaty, officially known as a "fiscal compact".

Mr Daul said the treaty was good for the EU - "it forces us to reconsider our bad habits over debt".

The UK and Czech governments refused to to sign the compact that aims to create closer co-ordination of budget policy across the EU to prevent excessive debts accumulating.

It spells out the enhanced role of the European Commission in scrutinising national budgets and empowers the European Court of Justice to monitor compliance and impose fines on rule-breakers.

European Council President Herman van Rompuy said the compact showed "a commitment to self-control and a commitment to avoiding debt".

"It is not a commitment to austerity," he added "but a commitment to funding our public finances through revenue rather than debt."

However Hannes Swoboda, the new leader of the socialist group, accused the European Council of "punishing countries that go into deficit, but not punishing countries with high levels of youth unemployment".

Mr Cameron has said he has "legal concerns" over the formal role of the EU institutions in the fiscal compact, such as the Commission and the Court of Justice.

Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said the compact "upholds the primacy of European law" and added that he hoped it would be formally integrated into the Lisbon Treaty within five years - a move that could require unanimous approval from all EU leaders.

'Gauleiter' row

During the debate, UKIP leader Nigel Farage walked out of the debate, after clashing with parliament president Martin Schulz.

Mr Farage accused countries such as Germany for treating debt-ridden Greece as "a subsidiary of a failing multi-national, rather than a nation with a soul and a proud history", and said that claims there should be a Commission-appointed budgetary "tsar" overseeing Greece's economy were akin to a Nazi-era "Gauleiter".

German green MEP Reinhard Bütikofer then intervened to say that Mr Farage's speech was "an incitement to hatred", with Mr Schulz accusing him of nationalism, an accusation that led to the UKIP leader walking out of the debate.

Aside from negotiations over the compact, the EU summit was used to discuss ways to create economic growth and cut unemployment across the EU.

The EU will help to fund schemes to get young people into work or training in member states with the highest youth unemployment levels.

EU leaders pledged to speed up measures to develop the EU single market, including agreement on a common EU patent system by July, and new laws to create a functioning single market in services and energy.

The European Commission says €82bn of is available for countries to spend on projects to boost jobs and growth.

MEPs will vote on a resolution setting out their position on the summit at the daily voting session from 11am on 2 February 2012.

TORY SPLIT GROWS AFTER DAVID CAMERON’S EU VETO ‘U-TURN’

Wednesday February 1 2012 by Macer Hall, Political Editor

DAVID CAMERON was last night facing a growing ­Cabinet rift over claims his veto of a new European Union treaty has been diluted.

Senior Tory ministers including Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith were understood to be deeply uncomfortable about his decision to allow the European Court of Justice and other EU bodies to enforce draconian economic measures to shore up the euro.

The Prime Minister yesterday used a Commons statement to attempt to allay Tory fears. He told MPs: “I made clear we will watch this closely and if necessary we will take action, including legal action, if our national interests are threatened by misuse of the institutions.”

Critics were understood to have been unconvinced.

At a tense Cabinet meeting, Mr Duncan Smith argued that the use of EU institutions by a new 25-nation ­fiscal union that excludes Britain could be illegal.

Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson, another ­leading Cabinet Eurosceptic, also raised objections.

With this Prime Minister, a veto is not for life, it’s just for Christmas.

Labour leader Ed ­Miliband

Mr Cameron faced a ­barrage of questions in the Commons from Tory backbenchers. Bill Cash warned the new union could mean “a slippery slope towards a more coercive, a more federal and a less democratic Europe”.

Mark Reckless asked: “Would you explain what it is that you vetoed?” And Ann Main warned the Government could face a “legal squabble” with the EU court.

The row erupted after Mr Cameron dropped his objections to EU institutions being used to enforce fiscal measures. At a summit last December he had vetoed a new EU treaty to help the eurozone.

Britain and the Czech Republic are the only EU nations not in the new pact.

Mr Cameron accepted at Monday’s EU Brussels ­summit that EU institutions could be used as long as ­Britain was not affected.

Mr Cameron also faced the embarrassment of being praised by Lib Dem MPs.

Former leader Sir Menzies Campbell praised the Prime Minister’s “pragmatism” and “re-engagement with our European partners”. Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes welcomed “a much more ­successful and satisfactory summit”.

But Labour leader Ed ­Miliband was mocking.

He said: “With this Prime Minister, a veto is not for life, it’s just for Christmas.”

Earlier former Tory minister David Davis warned the party’s Right would not accept a significant watering down of the veto.

In a BBC interview, he said: “The European court has a history of expanding its brief and applying principles nobody thought they would.”

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said last night: “David Cameron is clearly on the ropes following his U-turn. Now the Eurosceptic mask has slipped it is clear he is no longer the EU tough guy his party or the public want him to be.”

Like it would have been any different if Mr Miliband's crew had been involved, although he's quite right in what he says, it smacks of shear hypocrisy after he imposed a party whip to vote against an EU referendum.