Labour MEP for Yorkshire & Humber
I wrote a piece on Monday looking at Labour’s manifesto commitments on Europe. Now it’s the turn of the Conservatives to come under the microscope. Rather than putting words into David Cameron’s mouth, I thought I’d let him speak for himself — and add my notes and observations as we go along. The Tory manifesto […]
With our manifesto launch today, Labour continues to prioritise a positive and constructive position on our membership of the European Union. Labour believes that our membership of the European Union is central to our prosperity and security. It is why we will work to change the EU, so that it operates in the best interests […]
In case you had any doubts that Europe would be a key battleground in this general election, the last few days has scuppered those doubts once and for all. Labour’s lead on day one was a heartfelt pro-European message about the importance of our EU membership to British prosperity, a bold start which prompted defensive […]
This downturn was triggered by by events in the credit market in the USA, but it has revealed a number of wider failings: shortcomings in national economic policies in a number of countries, such as failures to deal with asset bubbles, loss of competitiveness, excessive debt or insufficient investment shortcomings in the European Union’s single […]
I suspect that, when you scratch beneath the surface, the things that these people object to are actually the common rules for the common market — consumer protection rules and social standards, for instance. So, opting out of everything except the common market would not actually give the Tory eurosceptics what they want. What they […]
I am very pleased that during this week’s Fisheries Committee, the European Commission announced emergency measures to alleviate the threat to the conservation of ‘poisson d’avril’ in Europe. What this means in practice is that during the key spawning period for the species this year, starting on 1st April, it will be prohibited to exploit […]
Water, for example, cannot be separated by nation state — pollution from one country can easily affect the rivers and beaches of another. Birds fly across national boundaries. Waste like household rubbish and batteries can all too easily be collected in one country and illegally dumped in another. Air pollution from one country causes acid […]
About the European Parliament About the European Commission
We need the European Union for three main reasons. Europe-wide laws have improved all our lives. The bulk of European Union laws are rules for what is now the world’s largest free market. And many of those rules are intended to make life easier for business, cutting red tape and bureaucracy. This is done by […]
A sword of Damocles is hanging over the British economy. It arises from the unique combination of our accumulated debt levels and our massive trade deficit. This leaves us more vulnerable to the consequences of an external shock, even one far smaller than the 2008 financial crisis. And if anything nearing that scale were to […]
The VAT-MOSS issue was raised today in a debate in the European Parliament by a number of MEPs. Encouragingly, European Commission Vice-President Timmermans, responding to the debate, confirmed that the Commission was taking these concerns very seriously, and that they had started to work on it even before David Cameron raised the issue at last […]
Today’s Select Committee report on the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership points to many advantages of a future trade deal with the USA, but it also highlights serious risks, says Yorkshire MEP Richard Corbett. The House of Commons Select Committee for Business, Innovation and Skills has published the results of its investigation into the […]
Another day, another UKIP MEP is suspended from the party following an expenses scandal. Last week, Janice Atkinson — UKIP MEP for the South East and general election candidate for Folkestone and Hythe — was suspended from UKIP following allegations of a serious financial nature. Time and time again, Farage has tried to distance himself […]
Sir Bill Cash MP is one of Westminster’s most prominent old-school anti-Europeans. Last week, he once again led the European Scrutiny Committee in one of his favourite activities: accusing the BBC of institutional pro-European bias. To be fair, the BBC’s director-general acquitted himself well under cross-examination: Lord Hall said the duty to ensure balanced, impartial […]
It’s no secret that the preparations for the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 have been appalling for those working to build the stadiums. The conditions for migrant workers from Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh, who are working on building projects for the event, are dramatic to say the least. Many international organisations, […]
My thoughts on what ‘EU reform’ actually means for the current UK government have just been published on UCL’s Britain and Europe Blog: A strange thing happened in the second half of last year. As the British Prime Minister David Cameron proclaimed to the British people that he ‘won’t take no for an answer’ when […]
I’ve just published an article in Business for New Europe’s blog on the simple point of how much UK law is made at European level, and how it has become a political hot potato: Of course, the question can be tricky to answer, because a lot depends on what counts as ‘a law’ and what counts as […]
Back in January, I welcomed emergency measures taken to protect sea bass during the crucial spawning season. But the fact that we had to resort to reactive emergency measures also served as a reminder that we need real, long-term, preemptive, evidence-based policy-making for sea bass fishing. That’s why, this week, the European Parliament voted in […]
I wrote a detailed blog post in January on the issue of VAT changes and how they affect small and micro-businesses, and I promised to follow up with details of further developments as Labour MEPs kept up the pressure. In recent weeks, Labour MEPs — including myself and Anneliese Dodds, who leads for us on […]
Not true. The independent House of Commons library found that the real proportion is just 13.2% of our laws.
I had the opportunity a week ago to hear views on TTIP on the other side of the Atlantic, when I was invited to speak at Harvard University and took the opportunity to meet various stakeholders there and in Washington. Interestingly, many of the concerns raised by people I spoke to were very similar to […]
Not true. All proposals for new EU laws are debated, amended and passed (or rejected) by elected national governments and directly-elected MEPs.
