Labour MEP for Yorkshire & Humber
The most striking feature of Cameron’s much-vaunted speech today is his almost obsessive focus on EU migration. He knows full well that the majority of immigrants arriving in the UK are from outside the EU. And, importantly, we set the rules for non-EU migration at a national level — no need to bring the EU […]
The trajectory of eurosceptic commentary during and after yesterday’s address to Parliament by Pope Francis was truly a wonder to behold. Flicking through UKIP MEPs’ Twitter feeds from yesterday is illuminating in itself. When the Pope arrived at Parliament, he was introduced to the leaders of all the political groups. Cue lots of excitable tweets […]
I was honoured to be elected Vice Chair of the UK section of the European Movement this weekend. The European Movement is the most venerable pro-European organisation. It was founded at the 1948 Hague Congress presided over by Winston Churchill, bringing together representatives from across the political spectrum, including Konrad Adenauer, Harold Macmillan, Bertrand Russell, […]
Few of the younger MEPs or staff in the European Parliament seem aware of the person after whom the main parliamentary building is named: Altiero Spinelli. I was privileged to attend as a special guest last Monday, the premiere of a film on the life of Spinelli — not a documentary but a historical drama […]
I spoke at the Save the NHS from TTIP rally in Hull on Saturday. It was a well attended event, despite the weather. It’s not that I oppose trade agreements between Europe and America. As a Yorkshire & Humber MEP, I’m well aware of how our small and large manufacturers could benefit from a reduction in American tariffs. But some of the mooted elements of this agreement are unacceptable.
Ed Miliband made an important speech today focusing on how Britain needs to change. The dividing lines between Labour’s values and the priorities of the Tories/UKIP have never been clearer. Throughout his speech, and even more in the extended question-and-answer session afterwards, Ed showed that Labour is not afraid to stand up for truth and […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]