THE EUROPEAN UNION

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If the UK were to leave the EU, there would be no net loss of jobs or trade. In addition, we would be between £17 billion and £40 billion per year better off, possibly more. These are the findings of A Cost Too Far?, published by Civitas. Ex Prime Minister Blair often claimed that 60% of the UK’s trade and three million jobs ‘depend on’ our EU membership. Closer analysis reveals this to be a highly misleading claim.

Three Million Jobs Would Go? Another of Blair’s mistakes was to believe that the jobs currently resulting from trade with the EU would be lost if we left. However, a number of authoritative studies have found that leaving the EU would have little impact on jobs, including a report by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, and a report for the US Congress by the US International Trade Commission. In particular, if the UK left the EU, it is unlikely that UK companies would be denied access to other EU markets. (Source: Civitas, Sep/07)

East Midlands MEP Roger Helmer has vowed to fight a plan to be put before the European Parliament which would require British drivers to apply for an EU licence. The Grosch Report calls for national driving licences to be replaced by an EU-wide scheme, removing control of driver registration from national governments. As might be expected with an EU scheme, the new Euro-licences would also impose added interferences on the British motorist. Most significantly, all drivers over the age of 45 would be required to have a medical examination as could disabled people before being considered for a licence The driving age would also be decided by Europe rather than by the UK government. There would be hugely increased numbers of classification of vehicle types for which separate tests would be required. The proposal, which was debated at first reading in the Transport Committee, would have a major impact on all of Britain's motorists.

Speaking from the European Parliament, East Midlands Conservative Euro-MP Roger Helmer, commented, "This is a perfect example of the EU needlessly trying to interfere in an area which is already working perfectly well and in which there is no need to take away power from member states. The UK has already made sacrifices in this area by adopting a standard EU-pattern driving licence with a photo ID, now we're being told we should go further and just let Brussels take over the whole thing. The idea that everyone over 45 or who is disabled should take a medical before they can be given a licence is intrusive and absurd and will lead to vast expense and inconvenience for motorists. Our current system is efficient, and there is no reason to change what is a widely respected system internationally. I intend to fight this all the way."

More than 80 garden sprays and weedkillers were banned from sale because of stricter regulations on potentially harmful chemicals. The new European rules primarily ban lawn treatments which kill dandelions, nettles and brambles. They include some own-brand products from Asda, Homebase and B&Q. Stores face fines of up to £5,000 if they sell the offending goods, but gardeners can continue to use them until the end of the year 2003. They will not be allowed to store any of them after the end of March. Environmentalists warned that local authorities would struggle to collect and dispose of the unwanted pesticides. Friends of the Earth said many local authorities, which are responsible for the clear up, were ill equipped to dispose of toxic pesticide waste. It is illegal to get rid of the garden chemicals down drains, sinks or toilets.

"If pesticides are simply thrown in bins they will end up in landfill sites and will end up contaminating our environment," FoE said. The group said some products were not covered by the ban despite being proven to damage human health, and it criticised the Government for not putting money into projects to find safer alternatives. "Many risky pesticides have been given the green light, and safer alternatives have not been found for those products being banned," the group said. The Crop Protection Association (CPA), which represents the pesticide industry, said it had sent letters to 200 local authorities to brief them on the new regulations. "We have given them sufficient warnings," said the chief executive, Peter Sanguinetti. "Some authorities are already very advanced with their plans and some are not."

The organic movement said the ban on some pesticides marked a great opportunity to promote chemical-free gardening. Maggi Brown, head of education at Europe's largest organic gardening association, HDRA, said: "There has been reliance on chemicals as a quick fix ... Those people who say you can't possibly grow vegetables, or fruit or flowers, without pesticide should look at the hundreds of thousands of organic gardeners up and down the country and the rest of the world." The move, led by the European Union, is part of a process to regulate the pesticide industry, which in Britain is worth £416m a year. The makers of the pesticides that were banned from sale yesterday were unwilling to put them through new stringent safety tests.

The industry said the products were mainly older versions of pesticides that had been superseded or were for niche markets and were not worth the estimated £1m cost of putting them through the tests. The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the ban came into force because the safety of the products could no longer be guaranteed. Most contained dichlorprop, which the industry said had been rendered obsolete by a more environmentally friendly version of the chemical. David Bowe, a Labour MEP and a spokesman on the environment, said about 10% of garden pesticide products sold in the UK have had to be withdrawn from the shelves.

Disposable cigarette lighters now on sale are to be banned under a new EU law and manufacturers will have to produce a childproof version a metallic guard over the spark wheel. The rule is being introduced because children playing with disposable lighters kill up to 40 people in the EU every year. The change in production is expected to add 2p to the cost but you can bet the retail price will be a lot more. Now what about matches? (Source: The People, Mar/06)

Defence chiefs are fighting to prevent the Army's tanks being stopped in their tracks by the introduction of a European directive on vibration and noise at work. The Control of Vibration at Work Regulations and the Control of Noise at Work Regulations have left officers scrambling to discover if the military's armoured vehicles break the rules. But with a slim chance of reducing vibrations in a Challenger 2 tank and the Warrior armoured vehicles, the Ministry of Defence will be seeking an exemption from the rules by invoking an "opt-out" clause. Soldiers who travel in the back of tanks and are subjected to substantial jolts and constant noise will have to suffer the discomforts until at least 2010 when the regulations become law. (Source: Daily Telegraph)

Motorists face a road tax rise of at least £40 under new EU proposals. Drivers already pay tax on a sliding scaled linked to carbon emissions but they could be hit again as the EU adds a basic "green levy" of £40 a year. EU Tax Commissioner Laszlo Kovacs wants to standardise road tax to the higher levels in other European countries. At the moment we pay £110 a year for smaller cars built before March 2001 and £175 for cars over 1549cc. Newer cars pay from £40 to £210 depending on carbon emissions but in Ireland car tax is already £287 and in Denmark it's £233. Mr Kovacs wants half the tax on each car to be based on emissions by 2010 and, if approved, his plans could be in place within five years. (Source: Sunday People, Jul/06)

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