UK Independence Party
Enfield & Haringey Branch
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FROM THE SECRETARY:
By the time you read this newsletter we will have had our stall at the Enfield Town Show and our AGM. These two events will be reported next time.
Evelyn Rolph - Branch Secretary
Mole catcher cause goes to Brussels
Peter Brown used to go round 87 farms in Lancashire, Yorkshire and Derbyshire each year catching moles using strychnine which has now been banned by the EU Biocides Directive. Instead he has been told he must use aluminum phosphide which costs many times more, takes much longer to kill moles and has been responsible for the deaths of three children. He is taking his case to the European Parliament for compensation as his living has been wiped out by EU legislation.
Collection of DNA
Chief Constables across England and Wales have been told to ignore a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights and carry on adding the DNA profiles of tens of thousands of innocent people to a national DNA database. Conservative MP Damian Green won a battle with police to have his profile removed.
Quangos
There are now 791 quangos in England and Wales costing the taxpayer £43 billion a year.
The English Pub
Pubs are closing at the rate of 52 a week since the EU smoking ban was introduced. Paul Nuttall, UKIP Party Chairman said: “What is happening is a tragedy for the British way of life and it has cost 24,000 jobs over the last year alone.” Local pubs serving small communties have been the worst hit, often in rural areas that have lost their Post Office.
Lisbon Treaty
In February and again in March, I reported that the German people were worried about the EU taking too many powers away from the German Government. Germany’s Constitutional Court held several days of debate and have reached an agreement on how to strengthen the parliament’s rights in the EU decision-making process. Furthermore, local governments will receive increased rights to protect their interests.
In Ireland, supporters of the Lisbon Treaty are set to outspend the No side by 10 to 1 in the referendum campaign. It is estimated that 4.2 million euros will be spent.
Day-to-day news from August
3rd - China has lodged its first complaint against the EU with the World Trade Organisation for imposing 85% tariffs on Chinese screws and bolts.
4th - Nine staff have been sacked from their local authority jobs for snooping on personal records of celebrities and personal acquaintances held on the core database of the government’s National Identity Scheme. This highlights the risk to the privacy of us all.
4th - Andrew Symeou, the 20-year-old Enfield man extradited to Greece under the European Arrest Warrant, has been refused bail because he has no permanent home in Greece. He will now spend months in jail waiting for his case to come to court.
5th - Tory Chris Patten, a former EU Commissioner, has admitted he’ll be pushing for the post of the EU’s first Foreign Minister when the Lisbon Treaty comes into force. Tony Blair is still interested in the post of EU President but it is unlikely that Britons would be allowed to take both top jobs.
5th - The NHS in Scotland has employed more than 150 extra staff to cope with a reduction in the number of hours junior doctors can work due to the EU’s Working Time Directive. This is causing a £900,000 financial deficit this year.
6th - The Government estimates the cost of meeting EU renewable energy targets will add 15% to electricity and 23% to gas bills by 2020.
9th - The figures that the Office of National Statistics quietly released show that Britain handed over £16.3 billion to the EU last year, £537 million more than the year before. We got £9.8 billion back in grants. Britain’s direct payments to the EU are now a whopping £45 million a day. Much of this increase is down to the reduction in the rebate won by Margaret Thatcher in 1984 and then given away by Tony Blair in 2005.
At the recent gathering of French Ambassadors, Prime Minister Francois Fillon spoke about the French economic situation and rising debt burden and said France would not be able to remain a net contributor to the EU budget for much longer. France pays a similar sum to the EU budget as Britain but gets something like 85% back because of the CAP payments.
10th - The Telegraph reports that Councils, police and other public bodies have made more than 500,000 requests for confidential communications data last year, equivalent to spying on one in every 78 adults. Powers, under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, allow authorities to request access to confidential communications data, including lists of telephone numbers dialled and email addresses to which messages have been sent.
10th - The Government’s plans to increase the proportion of Britain’s energy generated by “green” sources may cost 17 times more than its benefits. The Renewable Energy Strategy, unveiled last month, is designed to meet EU renewable energy targets.
10th - Whilst the Swedes hold the EU Presidency, their aim is to push for stronger military missions at EU level.
10th - The EU has stopped consignments of medicines coming from India, including drugs for the treatment of swine flu, on the grounds they violated patents.
11th - Passengers travelling on South West Trains have complained about the number of announcements. South West Trains have blamed EU regulations which state that all trains have to display and announce information regarding the destination and upcoming stops.
14th - Up to a sixth of the UK’s potato crop could be lost as a result of an EU directive on pesticides. Inevitably, the cost of potatoes will go up.
17th - Britain has signed up to a new EU arrest warrant scheme which will come into force next April. It means Britons in receipt of an EAW could be sent for trial anywhere else in the EU for minor crimes such as drunkenness and driving offences. The EAW was initially introduced to fast track extradition of terrorist suspects.
19th - Garry Mann has been extradited to Portugal under the EAW for his alleged role in football related violence 4½ years ago. He claims his trial was unfair owing to the fast-track procedure used, in which he claims he was allowed only 5 minutes to talk to a lawyer before the trial. He also believed that his 2-year jail term could be served in the UK rather than in Portugal.
19th - The EU is proposing a ban on the fuel used for children’s toy steam engines in an effort to prevent terrorism. A terrorist would need to buy tens of thousands of fuel tablets to make a bomb. The ban would mark the end for the German manufactured steam engines as no substitute fuel exists.
24th - From 1st September it will be illegal to sell pearl or frosted light bulbs of any shape or wattage, also traditional incandescent 100 watt bulbs. Trading standards officers will be carrying out inspections and are asking members of the public to report any shop continuing to stock the illegal bulbs. Nigel Farage says that asking people to snoop on shopkeepers has been likened to the practices of East Germany in the 1980s.
Sales of the frosted light bulbs have soared in Germany and Austria as people are hoarding them in advance of the EU ban. [This surely indicates that people prefer the old light bulbs - Ed].
25th - The EU is proposing a controversial system of re-distributing refugees and asylum seekers among the 27 member states to lighten the workload of border countries.
25th - People selling unauthorised DVDs and video games, including banned films and pornography, cannot be prosecuted due to an administrative error made under the Thatcher government. The government did not notify the EU of the Video Games Recordings Act when it was passed in 1984, as required under an EU directive, meaning it is no longer enforceable in the UK.
25th - Animal welfare groups have criticised new EU legislation that will reduce the amount of space that must be allocated to factory chickens, which is already less thanone sheet of A4 paper.