Labour MEP for Yorkshire & Humber
Question In a comprehensive assessment of 130 banks, consisting of an asset review (AQR) and a stress test, it was found that some banks had been ‘explicitly non-compliant’ with accounting practices, with some 8% of the total provision increase reported as deriving from a misalignment with accounting standards. Have any sanctions been applied to those […]
Cameron is running out of excuses on migration. Last week, we were told again what we already knew: that EU migrants are a multi-billion-pound benefit to the UK, as well as being less likely to claim benefits, less likely to be out of work, and more highly educated than domestic workers. This week we’ve seen […]
The government’s handling of the vote on opting back in to various EU police and justice cooperation measures was shambolic — and caused entirely by the Conservative party’s civil war on Europe, with the government afraid of its own backbenchers. But at the end of the day, there was an overwhelming majority of 464 to […]
The line coming from Tory party headquarters this afternoon is that Osborne has emerged from a finance ministers’ meeting with a great victory for Britain. The UK’s additional contribution to the EU budget has, he says, been not only delayed but also halved. Well, time to set a few things straight: The supposed ‘reduction’ that […]
An East Yorkshire resident is to be awarded France’s highest decoration for service in the Normandy D-day campaign 70 years ago. Leslie Skelton, of Tickton near Beverly, is to be presented with the Legion d’honneur medal in a special ceremony at the French embassy, London, on the morning of Armistice Day, 11 November this year. […]
Question Hundreds of UK citizens have invested in a complex named Vila Verde on the Cape Verdean Island of Sal. The developer, Tecnicil, was funded by the Portuguese bank Banco Espirito Santo (BES). There were strong safeguards in the contracts to protect the bank’s investment if the project was not completed. Tecnicil has now gone […]
Question Is the Commission aware that UK-based van hire companies typically levy additional charges (sometimes tripling the cost of van hires) when the van is travelling to the EU mainland, whereas continental van hire firms do not increase their charges for vehicles crossing borders? Van hire companies blame the insurance companies, which they claim charge […]
Yet more evidence was released this morning about the impact of migration between the UK and other EU countries, this time from a detailed study conducted by University College London: European immigrants who arrived in the UK since 2000 have contributed more than £20bn to UK public finances between 2001 and 2011. […] Over the […]
Coalition squabbles seem to have led to the demise of the bill that curiously sought to bind the next government (but not this one) to hold an in-out referendum on EU membership, even if it is elected on a pledge to focus on other priorities. This failure is to be welcomed for at least four […]
According to the news this morning, Cameron has been rebuffed in his attempt to abandon the principle of EU free movement by Angela Merkel. This can hardly be a surprise. In summary, what’s happening is this. The eurosceptic right within the Conservative party is trying to bounce Cameron into making pledges for EU reform that […]
I was asked to speak at a fringe meeting of the Labour party conference this year on the subject of what EU reforms we should be fighting for. You can also read a transcript of my speech.
Media coverage of the Mayor of Calais’s comments about migrants trying to get into the UK is, quite frankly, a load of tosh. First, the illegal migrants trying to enter Britain from Calais are nothing to do with the EU’s freedom of movement. Illegal migrants are by definition from outside the EU. After all, if they were […]
My autumn 2014 quarterly report.
The more you dig into the EU budget surcharge question, the more the conduct of the British government and David Cameron becomes questionable — as it becomes clear that they actually knew about it months ago. Remember the song and dance when the government announced to great fanfare that the UK economy was bigger than […]
The European Commission’s announcement of adjustments to the contributions to the EU budget may well be a simple matter of applying the rules agreed by all the member countries, but the way it’s been handled (by the outgoing Barroso Commission) was politically inept. The agreed rules are that each country pays into the EU budget […]
I spoke to BBC Radio 5 live this morning on David Cameron’s double blackmail on Europe (first of fellow EU members and then of the British electorate), as well as his inability to actually lay out which EU reforms he wants. Listen again online to the interview (from 02:55:15).
Question In September 2014 the presence of the small hive beetle (Aethina tumida) in the European Union was confirmed for the first time, in two separate locations in the Reggio Calabria region of south-west Italy. Meanwhile, the European Food Safety Authority had already conducted a risk assessment on the entry of bee pests into the […]
With the vote of confidence by the European Parliament (by 423 to 209) allowing the Juncker Commission to take office, it’s a good moment to ask what the Parliament has achieved after two weeks of intensive questioning, investigation and cross-examination of proposed commissioners. The media focus was on whether one or the other candidate would […]
As a member of the European Parliament’s constitutional affairs committee, I’ve been observing the commissioner hearings to see how the procedure can be improved in the future. The process, and my report, is yet to be finalised — but I have written some of my initial thoughts in an article for the Parliament Magazine: When it […]
Europe’s World (a European policy journal) has published an article of mine that outlines my thoughts on EU reform: Reform in the European context is an ongoing process, not a one-off event to be initiated, negotiated and completed within a self-proclaimed deadline. Rather, the whole point of the EU is to be a non-stop negotiating forum, year […]
Many studies — both polls and in-depth research — have demonstrated that, the more people understand about the EU and how it works, the more positive their feelings are towards it. Nigel Farage knows this as well as anyone. And this explains his announcement over the weekend — predictably lapped up by the eurosceptic press this morning — that hypothetical UKIP […]
Left Foot Forward have published an article of mine reviewing the hearings process and comparing it to the national political scene: How illuminating it would be, then, if the Commons took a greater interest in ministerial appointments and submitted ministers to close questioning in public confirmation hearings before they could take office! What a powerful […]
It’s great that there’s been some media interest — even in the UK — in the cross-examinations of candidate European commissioners which are happening this week and next in the European Parliament. Among a lot of surprisingly accurate coverage, one less plausible claim is also rearing its head. This is the suggestion that these hearings […]
The highly anticipated cross-examinations of the British nominee for the Commission, Lord Hill, took place this afternoon. Earlier in the day I set the scene with my preview of the hearing, so now it’s time to share my initial reflections on his performance. Hill went out of his way to charm MEPs. He started his address […]
