Sovereignty

[Ashtree]

Mrs T was forced to get rid of the MMB by EU completion rules.

Why did the Royal Mail need privatising? It was turning a profit and bringing money in for the government and providing a good service. it was privatised to satisfy EU anti monopoly laws, applied absurdly and in extremis to what should and has to be be a universal national service not a private business which will ultimately end up cherry picking the most profitable services and leaving remote rural communities with a very much degraded service.

Royal Mail in common with so many other national mail operators had their whole business model usurped by the digital age. Blaming Mrs. T or EU or any other entity is just naff!

 

[Muck Spreader]

That's what gets me. Here we can't seem to save any of our industries "because it would break EU rules". Maybe it's just an excuse. I don't know. I can't honestly believe that the reason we have no home grown motor industry is because nobody in Britain could run a car plant.

Same with electrical engineering etc. Continental firms were backed to the hilt by their national governments who bailed them out until the good times returned and lo and behold they bought up their British competitors, saved the good bits and ditched the rest.

Somebody ought to be put on trial for treason.

That's ruddy foreigners for you! Doing underhand things like supporting their business in times of difficulty. There was/is nothing stopping the UK government from supporting business and industries, but they are and always have been happy to let the market decide. Try and buy a German business and see how easy it it is compared to a UK one. The UK has proved to be a rich picking ground for foreign investors looking for assets to snap up, be it property, land, businesses or services they are all for sale, in an effort to keep fuelling the economy.

 

[DrWazzock]

As a general rule, state aid for industry is illegal under the present terms of our membership of the EU.

http://www.williamfry.com/docs/defa...-eu-state-aid-regime-an-overview.pdf?sfvrsn=0

There are of course exceptions to the rule, but this is for the EU commission, not for our elected national government to decide.

So if we decide that loss of Scunthorpe Steelworks would lead to an unacceptable level of deprivation we cannot give any aid to that business whatsoever, without getting approval from the EU. A prime example of loss of sovereignty.

Meanwhile, the French national government is giving additional payments to its own farmers because of hardship. I don't really have a problem with that in itself, but it's a clear violation of the principles of the single market and the illegality of state aid under such a single market, but it would seem the French and Germans make to the rules and choose whether or not they will conform to them. Which is why the supermarkets are full of foreign dairy products which it couldn't possibly be more efficient to transport for all those refrigerated road miles without somebody at the other end is subsidising the job.

 

[Muck Spreader]

As a general rule, state aid for industry is illegal under the present terms of our membership of the EU.

http://www.williamfry.com/docs/defa...-eu-state-aid-regime-an-overview.pdf?sfvrsn=0

There are of course exceptions to the rule, but this is for the EU commission, not for our elected national government to decide.

So if we decide that loss of Scunthorpe Steelworks would lead to an unacceptable level of deprivation we cannot give any aid to that business whatsoever, without getting approval from the EU. A prime example of loss of sovereignty.

Meanwhile, the French national government is giving additional payments to its own farmers because of hardship. I don't really have a problem with that in itself, but it's a clear violation of the principles of the single market and the illegality of state aid under such a single market, but it would seem the French and Germans make to the rules and choose whether or not they will conform to them. Which is why the supermarkets are full of foreign dairy products which it couldn't possibly be more efficient to transport for all those refrigerated road miles without somebody at the other end is subsidising the job.

The link you provide shows exactly the many ways that aid can be given by a government to industry, quite a bit of flexibility in the interpretation of these rules. As for steel, which country blocked EU proposals for putting a higher tariff on the dumping of Chinese steel.

Funny how the government can find hundreds of billions at the drop of a hat when the banks are threatened. No checking the rule book then.

 

[verdifish]

??? Where do you get that idea?

The U.K. has about 10% of MEP's!
We have more representation than most other member states! Only Germany might have more.

Maybe you should try electing ones that do a better job?

That's still 90% to vote against us....!

 

[Stuart J]

That's still 90% to vote against us....!

That's democracy.

 

[caveman]

http://www.ukpolitical.info/european-parliament-election-turnout.htm

Last EU elections, only 35.6% of the UK electorate bothered to turn out.
And that's for less than 10% of the available seats.
Some democratic representation that is for those with a care.
Perhaps only those who bothered to turnout should qualify for the upcoming referendum?
I wonder why the Belgian turnout was nearly 90%?
It is quite appallng that the fifth largest economy in the world should be represented in a controlling institution by around 3.5% of it's electorate.

 

[verdifish]

That's democracy.

Yep a democracy nobody in the UK voted to join !! Real democracy in action..

 

[Ashtree]

I see the latest opinion influencers to throw their shoulders to the remain in wheel are Wills and Kate[emoji57].

 

[Hilly]

I see the latest opinion influencers to throw their shoulders to the remain in wheel are Wills and Kate[emoji57].

Granny will have em thrown into the tower! A pair of gormless townks just like the rest of her majesty family sadly as she is a true great !

 

[its yourself]

Granny will have em thrown into the tower! A pair of gormless townks just like the rest of her majesty family sadly as she is a true great !

You might have the Queen but we have Clarkson