How the E.U is destroying the U.K'S manufacturing base
THE TRUTH ABOUT EUROPE
Some Examples
Coal & Steel - Both in terminal decline - a direct result of massive subsidies to companies in other EU states. Subsidies are illegal under EU law. Other countries ignore the law while the UK rigorously enforces it. Under Single Market rules subsidised EU coal & steel floods our markets causing widespread job losses. Now remaining British coal companies would gladly give their coal away for the £3.5 billion subsidy paid to German coal! Money from the EU was actually used for redundancy payments, paving the way for the destruction of jobs within these industries. (i.e. - UK taxpayers money! - Buying off British jobs!)
Agriculture - This industry is so dependent on EU subsidies that removal would cause heavy losses for UK farmers. Rules, regulations, quotas, subsidies, set aside etc. have turned our farmers from independence to subservience to the EU. Paid in "Green Pounds" (an agricultural 'single currency') farmers income fell 22.4% (for some nearer to 50%) in 1997 as a result of other weak EU currencies (or a "strong pound" as the EU prefers it to be phrased!). 80% of subsidies go to only 20% of farmers. Yet the UK imports food at higher prices than on world markets, very often food we could even produce ourselves if not for EU rules! Cost to the average UK family? - £28 per week extra on food bills!
EU 'Droite a Suite' laws - (4% of art sales taxed as royalties to artist or heirs) forced on the UK. Result? - a) New York and Geneva replace London Art Houses threatening tens of thousands of jobs & £2 billion a year foreign earnings. b) Few Art sales where this tax exists! c) Lawyers for dead artist's estates cream off the money. When EU Commissioners forced 2.5% VAT on Art sales it caused a 40% fall in British trade. Now they threaten legal action to impose 17.5% VAT (what do they care? - no other EU country had anything like Britain's Art Trade!).
SMALL BUSINESSES ARE THE UK's MANUFACTURING BASE
Meat - New EU rules (viciously enforced by UK officials) forced half of all abattoirs to close. Large abattoirs were given EU grants in the 1980's but small abattoirs received no help to comply with the new laws. One in five abattoir owners now face prosecution for breaking one or more of thousands of new criminal offences.
Fishing - Mostly small businesses - now mostly on the dole! Facing massive fines for minor "criminal offences" under the EU Common Fisheries Policy; unable to pay for a vast array of new rules; helpless to prevent fish depletion (from what used to be UK waters) by other far less stringently policed EU fishing states. This UK Industry is at its last gasp.
Butchers, Bakers and Candlestick Makers - In every industry the picture is the same. EU law enforcement pushes small traders out of business; much larger firms soak up trade and keep retail prices sky high. Directors of some large firms get rich at the expense of our national economy. Small and medium sized industrial growth is in jeopardy.
UK firms pay huge sums for 'CE' (EU) standards in good faith. Then they find they must pay all over again when other EU countries refuse to accept them. Yet the UK lets in all 'CE' marked products without question!
In 1973 the UK left EFTA to join the "Common Market". By 1994 every member of EFTA was richer than every member of the EU. In 1973 the UK was the third richest "Common Market" country - by 1996 it was the fourth poorest.
The facts speak for themselves:
The EU - Saboteurs of UK Industry
3 DEADLY DIRECTIVES
a) Packaging Waste, 94/62 - (Waste monitoring) Official estimated cost: £1,000,000,000 every year.
b) Recreational Craft, 94/25 - (50 new "safety" standards) Most small boat-builders put out of business and 15% price increases.
c) Construction Sites, 92/57 - (Massive bureaucratic "promotion" of safety) Official estimated cost: £573,000,000 every year.
Ó TEC 1998