MPs branded ‘hypocrities’ over EU rebate vote

TEXT OF ARTICLE TAKEN FROM DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT WEBSITE:
More than 125 MPs have been branded 'hypocrites' over a looming vote in Parliament on Britain's EU rebate, including several cabinet ministers and many MPs in Labour's most marginal seats.

As part of the deal done in December 2005, Tony Blair agreed to surrender £7bn of Britain's refund from the EU budget, increasing our annual contribution to the EU budget to £10.5bn.

On Monday, MPs will vote to approve that deal when the European Communities (Finance) Bill receives its second reading in Parliament.

The vote comes as the EU Court of Auditors last week refused to approve the "majority" of the EU's spending for the 13th year running.

The government is also under increasing fire for a range of public service failures, such as high rates of superbug infections in hospitals, post office closures, local council service cuts and ill-equipped armed forces.

A survey of MPs' voting intentions has revealed that at least 129 of the 360 MPs who intend to approve the unjustifiably large increase in funds paid to the audit-failing EU are facing cuts to local services in their own constituencies.

For example, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's Redditch constituency is set to be hit by cuts to local public services or big increases in council tax, as the county council tries to shave £25 million off its budget in the wake of a poor funding settlement from the government.

In Bolton, where Transport secretary Ruth Kelly has her constituency, the town council is looking to cut £5.2m (a mere few hours worth of the extra money the EU will enjoy) from its budget to limit council tax rises, likely causing job losses and service cuts. This is the second round of cuts to the council's budget to be considered this year.

Environment secretary Hilary Benn's constituency of Leeds Central remains under serious repeat threat of flooding as the Environment Agency has blocked a plan for new flood defences citing "financial pressures".

Communities secretary Hazel Blears has already been branded a 'hypocrite' in her Salford constituency after joining protests against changes to hospital and maternity services and then welcoming the cuts.

The same cuts, experienced across Manchester, also affected the Stretford & Urmston constituency of Schools minister Beverley Hughes.

Similarly Health minister Ivan Lewis has seen cuts to maternity services in his own constituency of Bury South.
MPs in some of Labour's most marginal seats are also risking a public backlash that could lose them their seats, by intending to approve the multi-billion pound raise for the audit-failing EU while local services face cuts. For example;

- Clive Efford MP for Eltham has criticised the axing of emergency facilities at local hospitals, but intends to send money to the EU that could instead have been used to keep those local services operating;

- Martin Linton MP for Battersea faces local NHS cuts and reduced police numbers;

- Swindon North and South MPs Anne Snelgrove and Michael Wills plan to gift billions more to the EU while their local hospital makes £600,000 cuts to its cleaning budget;

- Joan Ryan MP for Enfield North seems to think the extra payments to the EU can be afforded while her local hospital is failing to meet targets for tackling superbug infections.

- Watford MP Claire Ward postures in support of attempts to secure a new hospital in the town and a local NHS Trust that is described as financially "weak", while quietly planning to vote away billions of pounds to the EU that could solve these local difficulties affecting her constituents;

- Basildon MP Angela Smith (PPS to Gordon Brown) is another whose local council is facing a cash crisis and considering service cuts.
Seven Liberal Democrat and two Conservative MPs have also come under fire for hypocrisy.

Ian Taylor MP for Esher & Walton has protested about the downgrading of nearby Epsom hospital, but quietly intends to approve the unjustified government handout of billions more pounds to the EU that could instead be used to prevent such cuts.

And John Gummer MP's Suffolk Coastal constituency is threatened by county-wide multi-million-pound cuts to road maintenance, bus services, elderly care services and extra-curricular activities in schools as Suffolk County Council tries to plug a funding black hole.
All these local cuts are being caused by funding shortfalls that are tiny fractions of the billions these MPs are planning to approve gifting to the EU.

The research, conducted by the Democracy Movement - a leading eurosceptic pressure group - lists 360 MPs in total who have either said they will approve the deal or who have avoided several chances - including enquiries from constituents, direct communication and votes in Parliament - to signal that they oppose the Bill.

The results have been arranged into a Hall of Hypocrisy, ranking the MPs by their majority and level of threats to local public services.

Top of the ranking is Laura Moffat, MP for Crawley, who holds her seat by a tiny margin of 37 votes, has faced a succession of problems with local health services, yet still intends to vote to approve handing billions of pounds extra to the audit-failing EU.

The ranking shows how vulnerable many MPs are to being seen wasting huge amounts of public money while local services are left wanting.

DM director Stuart Coster said:

"No benefit whatsoever can be claimed for increasing payments to the EU while auditors cannot explain how the "majority" of the EU's current budget is being spent.

"MPs can hardly claim to be 'standing up' for local public services while planning to approve the waste of billions of pounds extra on the EU, which remains unable to obtain auditors approval for the majority of its spending.

"Some MPs seem to be living in a fantasy land where splashing extra billions on funding the EU without justification will not impact on the level of funds remaining for essential public services.

"MPs who vote billions of pounds away to be spent unaccountably must realise that they will be expected to take personal responsibility for the ultimately very local consequences.

"Come the next election, MPs who vote to approve this Bill will be listed in our Hall of Hypocrisy and held personally responsible for public service shortfalls, particularly those in their own constituencies, that could have been avoided if they had not voted to waste more billions on the EU."

• Primary Source

Website: Democracy Movement http://www.democracymovement.org.uk/

Democracy Movement: Hall of Hypocrisy http://www.democracymovement.org.uk/hypocrisy/

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