Labour MEP for Yorkshire & Humber
Labour MEPs have called on European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to take action on posted workers, precarious employment and zero-hours contracts. Mr Juncker took questions from MEPs at a meeting of the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) Group last night. Richard Corbett MEP, Labour’s Deputy Leader in the European Parliament, asked Mr Juncker: What are […]
Not true. We don’t decide anything at EU level unless all countries have agreed to do so — and even then, each piece of legislation is agreed by national governments.
The European Commission administration is only a little larger than a single city council in the UK.
Not true. The UK’s contribution is actually much lower than other similar-sized economies such as Germany and France, partly because we get a special rebate.
Not true. There is a persistent myth that the European Court of Auditors has refused to sign off the EU’s accounts, but this is false.
Earlier this week I spent two days in the US, taking up a long-standing invitation to give a lecture on the European Union at Harvard. While I was on the other side of the Atlantic, I also took the opportunity to talk to various stakeholders — politicians, academics, diplomats, trade union representatives — and discuss […]
Not true. You wouldn’t believe it from the eurosceptic rhetoric, but in fact, both British businesses and inward investors have been emphatic that Britain must stay in!
Not true. The EU is the world’s biggest single market, and it’s far and away our biggest trading partner.
Question Is the Commission aware that applying competition law in the strict economic sense to football clubs can undermine competition in the sporting sense? Is it willing to approve schemes to equalise the resources of football clubs (such as UEFA’s Financial Fair Play Regulations) which have the effect of attenuating the concentration of wealth and […]
Not true. In fact, there are almost as many Brits living elsewhere in the EU as other EU nationals in Britain.
Question Is the Commission satisfied that the CE regulations are being enforced with equal vigour across Europe, and if not, what action does it intend to take? Answer The Commission is aware of the differences in the implementation of the current product legislation requiring manufacturers to affix the CE marking across Europe. For this reason […]
Question In light of the answer given to Question E-010150/2014, can the Commission explain why 708 projects had participants from only one country, given that one of the objectives of the framework Programme is to foster cross-border cooperation and networking? Answer Most projects referred to by the Honourable Member are funded through either European Research […]
Not true. In fact, the European Parliament is much better than national parliaments at saying ‘no’ to controversial proposals.
Not true. When we get it right, EU legislation is an exercise in cutting red tape!
In fact, official figures from the Department of Health show that the opposite is true!
The European Court of Human Rights has nothing to do with the EU.
There’s a local ‘business’ in my constituency, the first of its kind, which was created just 18 months ago but has spawned more than 80 offshoots across the UK since it first opened its doors. This ‘business’ makes no profit, sets no prices for its services, and has no paid staff — yet its turnover […]
Not true. We actually left a free trade zone, EFTA, to join the EEC specifically because we felt free trade was not enough.
My spring 2015 quarterly report.
Be careful what you wish for!
Almost every democratic system has aspects which are questionable. The unelected House of Lords in Britain. The role of money in elections in the USA. The pros and cons of different electoral systems. And, of course, the EU. EU institutions certainly suffer from the problem of distance. They are inevitably and unavoidably more remote from […]
Yes, and so is every other country! All have their different languages, cultures, histories and laws.
This claim has been made about several different public services in the UK, but it is not true.
The Leave campaign claims that we could get better trade deals if we negotiated them separately as Britain. But it’s not as easy as that.
