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Last updated:
11 July 2011
INTRODUCTION:
Every
day Britain pays £20.8 million more to the EU than we receive
back in grants and subsidies.
That's
£7.6 billion being given to the EU this year alone, at a time
when public services are being cut and taxes increased in order to pay
off Britain's debts.
In
the recent Budget, our new government announced that VAT will rise sharply
to 20% from January 2011 and that almost all government departments
face spending cuts of up to 40%. But
there was no mention of cuts to the billions we are giving to the EU.
This
is even more inexplicable given that auditors continue to question the
"legality and regularity" of large areas of the EU's accounts
and regular reports of waste and fraud (see below).
It is completely unacceptable for the EU to be exempt from cuts, able
to continue to enjoy lavish, pre-crisis levels of funding while everyone
else across Europe tightens their belts.
That's
why the DM and the TaxPayers'
Alliance have teamed up to launch this new campaign, demanding that,
if public services face severe cuts, its only fair that the billions
we hand over to the EU should be cut too.
The
campaign was launched in Westminster with a stunt for the media. Activists
dressed as
Chancellor George Osborne and Treasury chief secretary Danny Alexander
posed with a giant cheque at the gates to Downing Street and outside
the Treasury (right) and then tried to pay it in at the European
Commission's London office (see the
video here).
In
the first initiative, hundreds of thousands of cheque style leaflets
have been produced for nationwide distribution by DM and TPA activists.
Further local
and national events, as well as additional campaign materials, will
follow.
We're asking supporters to sign the letter on the back of the leaflet
and return it to us, so that large numbers can be presented to
10 Downing Street. MPs
will also be informed how many of their constituents support cuts to
spending on the EU being prioritised over tax rises or cuts to public
services.
The
letter to Prime Minister David Cameron on the back of the leaflet reads:
Dear
Prime Minister,
In
2005 Tony Blair agreed to increase the amount Britain contributes
to the EU budget by 60% - despite opposition from both the Conservatives
and the Liberal Democrats (Hansard, 19 Nov 2007).
As
a result, we are due to pay the EU the huge sum of £7.6 billion this
year alone (March 2010 Budget, page 204) - even taking into account
the EU grants and subsidies that we receive back.
That’s
£20.8 million every day.
In
a recent speech you said that our national debt is "the most urgent
issue facing Britain today" and all political parties agree on the
need for large cuts in public spending.
If
public services face severe cuts, it is only fair that the billions
we hand over to the EU should also be cut.
Cutting
wasteful spending on the EU would make a big contribution to reducing
our deficit and solving the national debt crisis. Continuing to send
billions to the EU is particularly unjustifiable given frequent reports
of EU waste and fraud, coupled with auditors raising questions about
the "legality and regularity" of large areas of the EU's spending
year after year.
I
write to express my support for the TaxPayers' Alliance's and Democracy
Movement's demand that the Chancellor, George Osborne, should refuse
to sign more cheques like the one shown overleaf, and instead cut
the billions Britain is giving to the EU.
Yours
sincerely, ______________________
JOIN
IN:
-
Please order some copies of
our cheque leaflet for yourself and to give to your friends and
family so they can join in the campaign too. Or put them through
letterboxes in your street. We need to gather as many protests as
possible for presentation to 10 Downing Street.
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Don't
forget to also register for our eBulletin,
so that we can keep you up to date with the latest news and events
about the campaign.
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If
you can, please click here to make a donation
towards the costs of printing more cheque leaflets and sending them
to activists. We rely entirely on personal donations from individual
supporters to fund our campaigns.
IN
THE NEWS: EU WASTE & FRAUD
READ MORE:
-
Marta Andreasen's speech to a DM rally more
>>
-
EU
budget briefing by Open Europe more
>>
-
The
official EU budget agreement more
>>
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