Monday, February 06, 2012
   
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The European debate is important for Somerset jobs

"Normally the run-up to Christmas is a relatively quiet time in politics, with the attention of the media and the public more concentrated on what present to get Auntie Flo than national or international events," writes David Heath MP for the Western Gazette. "Not so this year, with major inter-governmental treaty negotiations getting all the coverage this week.

"I will write on another occasion about the entirely unexpected success at the Durban Climate change summit. Let’s consider instead  what was agreed, or more specifically not agreed, in Brussels. Nobody, whatever their overall attitude on matters european, should be happy that Britain found itself in a minority of one. As it happens, and here I may disagree with some of my colleagues,  I think the Prime Minister was entirely right not to agree to proposals which might have caused damage to British interests without adequate safeguards, but that doesn’t mean that I am not disappointed that we could not secure agreement, which would have been far better than having to use the veto. There was never any question of us becoming part of the unified fiscal arrangements touted by Germany and France. We are not part of the euro, nor are we likely to be in the foreseeable future, and therefore the arrangements put in place to try to rescue the euro are important to our economy but not something we would expect to be part of.

"There are some who don’t understand why it would be important to protect our financial sector. Aren’t they the ones who caused all this problem in the first place, they say, so why should we stand up for them now? And I understand that point of view, but it is wrong. We need to ensure that the city of London prospers within the European Union because it is a major engine of economic growth and actually pays a lot of the tax bills we rely on. Financial services as an industry contribute just under 14% of national output (almost twice that of the whole south west region), employs about 1.9 million people, more than half of whom work outside of London and the south east, and pays some £53 billion to the exchequer. Nothing in other european countries comes close to that, which is why they can perhaps afford to be a little more cavalier, or even hostile, in their attitudes. And paradoxically, had we signed up to the EU plans it would actually have prevented us from bringing in some of the tighter regulation we want to see.

"So yes, it was a vital British interest that was on the line. The failure was to secure agreement with other countries on this matter at an earlier stage, and here I think I would criticise the Conservative party for leaving the european conservative grouping, the EPP,  they had been part of for many years, which means the opportunity for influencing like-minded governments elsewhere has been lost. Now we need to work twice as hard to ensure that the interests of our manufacturing industry are protected, like for instance the Thales plant in Templecombe I  visited again last Friday. Thales is  a French-owned company. We need their investment to secure jobs in Britain, and I don’t want to see that, and that in many other companies across the country,  carelessly thrown away."

David in Parliament

TheyWorkForYou.com Search: speaker:David Heath
  • Bill Presented — Civil Aviation: Public Bodies (19 Jan 2012)
  • Bill Presented — Civil Aviation: Public Bodies (19 Jan 2012)
  • Bill Presented — Civil Aviation: Public Bodies (19 Jan 2012)
  • Bill Presented — Civil Aviation: Public Bodies (19 Jan 2012)
  • Bill Presented — Civil Aviation: Public Bodies (19 Jan 2012)

Published and promoted by Mike Bell on behalf of David Heath (Liberal Democrats) both at Church Hill House, 17 Bath Street, Frome, BA11 1DN.
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