Newsletter September/October 2009

FROM THE SECRETARY:

Congratulations to our Treasurer, Roy, who is getting married to Barbara on 4th October. The Branch wishes them many happy years together.

At our AGM on 7th September our Deputy Chairman, Fred, was voted in as Chairman, whilst Roy was re-elected Treasurer and Evelyn as Secretary.

Evelyn Rolph - Branch Secretary

UKIP Annual Conference
This was held in Southport on 4th/5th September but unfortunately none of our members were able to attend because of our publicity stall at Enfield Town Show. At the Conference Nigel Farage announced he would step down as Leader of the Party to concentrate on his election campaign in Buckingham where Speaker John Berkow is the sitting MP.

Enfield Town Show 5th/6th September
The weather was good over the weekend and the Show well attended. We had sufficient help on the stall to allow everyone time for a break to look round the Show. We gave out a lot of leaflets and DVDs and answered questions about UKIP and the EU. All in all, a good Show.

Lisbon Treaty
I’ve just heard on the news that the Irish have voted Yes to this Treaty. This is not really surprising when the Yes campaign spent ten times as much as the No side. Ryanair has been flying EU commissioners, MEPs and parliament staff in free of charge in order to boost the Yes vote in the referendum. A group of 80 EU officials have been doing a propaganda tour of Irish secondary schools and the Irish Broadcasting Corporation temporarily suspended the policy of being unbiased by promoting the Yes vote. The EU paid for a supplement in last Sunday’s papers as well as giving 1.5 million euros in an “information campaign”. When Nigel Farage paid a visit to Dublin, he was accused of “foreign interference”. Germany ratified the Treaty on 25th September so only Poland and the Czech Republic have still to do so.

EU Commissioners
EU Commissioners retiring this year will each leave with over £1 million in pension, transition and resettlement payments.

UK facing blackouts
Under the EU’s Large Combustion Plant Directive, nine oil and coal-fired power plants and 4 nuclear plants in Britain are due to close by 2015, leaving us with a 37% cut in generation capacity. Britain has built 2,300 wind turbines which produce barely 1% of our power and although another 10,000 are planned, we need conventional power stations to provide back-up for when the wind is not blowing.

Fingerprint scanning
Secondary school children in Enfield will soon have to pay for school dinners using biometric fingerprint technology instead of cash. The Council says it is to avoid youngsters having to carry money. In 2007 it was revealed that 15 Enfield schools were using fingerprint recognition in their libraries.

Mayoral debate
Voters in Enfield are being asked whether they would like the Council to be run by an elected mayor who would earn a salary and would choose his or her own cabinet of up to nine councillors. The consultation will run until 16th October. To take part visit the council’s website at enfield.gov.uk.

Battery drive
From 1st January 2010 all batteries will have to be recycled after an EU directive classified them as hazardous waste. Stores that sell them will be required to install bins for shoppers to return their old ones free but it will cost to dispose of them.

A slop bucket in every home
Plans are being drawn up in Whitehall for every home to be issued with a kitchen slop bucket (kitchen caddy) “to prevent food waste going to landfill because of its impact of climate change” we are told. In actual fact the EU is threatening to collect heavy fines from British councils after 2013 if landfill reduction targets are not met.

Day-to-day news from September

1st - The EU ban on the sale of traditional incandescent light bulbs came into effect. New rules for fridges and coolers are on the way due to the EU ecodesign directive.

2nd - London Mayor Boris Johnson went to Brussels to try to water down the proposed EU regulations on hedge funds and private equity firms. The new regulations would cost £1.2 billion to set up in the first year and millions of pounds every year subsequently. They also stipulate that only funds domiciled in Europe can be marketed in the EU (approx. 20%). Hedge funds and private equity sectors contributed around 9 billion euros in tax revenues to the EU economy in 2008.

Even more worrying is a draft proposal to set up three EU supervisory bodies to oversee banking, insurance and pensions, and securities with the power to overrule national regulators. Its budget would be 68 million euros. Key decisions will be taken on a “one-state, one-vote basis” meaning that the UK will have the same influence as countries which have barely any financial sector at all.

3rd - It has always been a bit of a puzzle why our Government was so anxious to close down our analogue television services in favour of digital which do not seem better. Now we are told that “all EU member states apart from Poland are on track to complete their switchover from analogue to digital television, a step that will free up radio waves for new pan-EU services.”

4th - Although the Lisbon Treaty has not yet been ratified by all 27 member states, the EU is already putting in place around the globe a network of embassies. EU diplomats based in lavish residences are being publicly funded to the tune of £3.4 billion a year as part of the EU “Foreign Service”.

A posh new building, named the Residence Palace, is being planned in Brussels at a cost of £280 million in readiness for the President of Europe and his staff and the first Foreign Minister. There are fears that Tony Blair might be appointed President.

5th - More than two decades after gaining infamy for symbolising the folly of the the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, the butter mountain is back. With prices falling due to a surge in production, the EU has already bought 60,000 tonnes in order to prop up the prices paid to dairy farmers. It has also acquired 200,000 tonnes of milk powder and poured 25 million gallons of milk down the drain.

8th - Marta Andreasen has resigned as UKIP Treasurer. Mark Wadsworth has taken her place.

11th - General Motors sold its interest in Vauxhall and Opel to Canadian car-parts firm Magna. The German government offered to loan billions of pounds in order to protect German car manufacturing jobs. The EU shuts its eyes to this state aid whilst demanding that Lloyds Banking Group sells off some of its assets because of the state aid it had received from the British government.

12th - Another local councillor has defected to UKIP, just weeks after two independents in Wales decided to join the Party. David Duxbury, a South Ribble, Lancs, councillor has defected from the Tories. UKIP now has 100 councillors throughout the country.

15th - Lord Pearson of Rannoch, one of our UKIP peers in the House of Lords, has said he is putting his name forward as a prospective candidate for the leadership of UKIP to replace Nigel Farage when he steps down..

16th - José Manuel Barroso has been re-elected for a second term as President of the EU Commission at roughly the same basic salary as the President of the United States.

17th - The EU has ruled that anyone who falls sick while on holiday will be able to demand extra time off. It has been branded a malingerers’ charter.

17th - A new opinion poll in Iceland shows more opposition to membership of the EU than ever before.

21st - One of the largest chemicals manufacturers in Slovakia has filed for bankruptcy after being hit with a 19.5 million euro fine by the EU for allegedly breaking competition law.

22nd - Under international law, asylum seekers must claim refuge in the first safe country they reach, yet the EU Justice Commissioner, Jacques Barrot, is demanding that Britain allows in the illegal immigrants currently living outside Calais. The EU is planning a common asylum policy whereby all member states would accept a proportion of asylum seekers based on population. Britain would have to take 13%, more than any other country apart from Germany. We are already the most populated country in the EU. It is estimated that 250 primary schools will have to be built over the next 4 years to provide places for the children of migrants.

24th - Computer maker Dell is closing its Limerick plant in Ireland and building a factory in Poland with the loss of 1,900 Irish jobs. The EU gave 14.8 million euros of aid to help former Dell workers find jobs.

25th - In a council by-election in Billericay, Essex, South West ward, UKIP’s Susan McCaffery won 57% of the vote to gain the seat.

29th - EU snoopers are pressing for sinister new powers to spy on every taxpayer. They want EU countries to allow its bureaucrats the right to delve into millions of people’s personal financial details right down to bank account transactions. They would be able to view the salary details, spending habits and savings of British people without their knowledge. The EU justifies this by saying it would tackle fraudsters but it would also put at risk personal and financial information falling into criminal hands.

30th - EU officials have asked national governments for an additional £4.1 million to subsidise EU civil servants’ travel on buses, trams, trains and the metro in Brussels. The new perk will be given to 31,380 EU civil servants, many of whom already benefit from low tax rates, high salaries, pensions and a job for life.

30th - Tariffs that protect European shoe makers at the expense of Asian manufacturers are expected to be extended by two years later this month.