Welcome to my first end of session newsletter. I hope you have enjoyed my monthly View from Strasbourg, which this newsletter is intended to be an addition to in order to give an overview of what I have been doing in the European Parliament.
Explaining what the European Parliament is and what it does for constituents is not easy. The issues are complicated but communication is key. That is why I am sending out this newsletter and why I have set up this new website.
On this website you can find out the latest news about what I’ve been doing in the constituency and in the European Parliament as well as information about how the Parliament works, the Committees I am on, what they are responsible for and photos of me looking slightly foolish. I hope you find it interesting and informative. I decided to set up a website because I think it’s important to reach out to people to whom we haven’t in the past. I’m not going to start rapping at constituency meetings or sending out text messages but I do believe the internet is a great way to provide information and it is another way for constituents to get in touch with me.
However, reading about stuff on the web is no substitute for actually experiencing something in the flesh. In recent months I’ve welcomed groups to the European Parliament in both Brussels and Strasbourg including Bellerbys College, Cambridge which I particularly enjoyed. More groups will be coming in the autumn and these visits provide an excellent opportunity for constituents to get a real feel for what the Parliament is all about. I always try to get colleagues from other countries to come to speak to visitor’s groups as it gives a different perspective to the debate we usually have in England about Europe. I must thank Ziggy Zaleski MEP, a Polish member, for his willingness to speak to groups from East Anglia. Ziggy and I both oppose many of the terrible proposals to come out of Brussels but for his region around Lublin, near the border with Ukraine, membership of the EU has had a massive positive effect on where he lives.
Another highlight of the Spring was visiting Town Close House Prep School in Norwich. I went in March to speak to 11 year olds about the EU before they embarked on a trip to Belgium and France. I returned in June to present a prize for the best diary account of the trip and was most impressed by the depth of knowledge and understanding the students had about the issues we discussed.
Within the constituency I have spoken to a number of EUW groups, Conservative Associations, AGMs, the confederation of small businesses and at regional conferences including one on biofuels which I found particularly rewarding. This is an issue which will get more and more important as oil prices continue to rise, and could have a great effect on what is farmed in East Anglia. All of these events provide opportunities to answer questions about what is going on in Brussels and more importantly to find out what your concerns are. I was sad to hand on the Presidency of the East of England Show but I am sure Prince Edward, Duke of Wessex (where is Wessex?) will do a sound job. I hope he will find the role as interesting as I did. I wish him all the best and hope he takes the opportunity this role provides to engage with farmers in the region.
Sticking up for our farmers has been a large part of my work on the Agriculture Committee in 2006. Starting with the reform of the Sugar regime, which I opposed for being particularly damaging to British farmers, it has been a tough year. The closing of the Sugar beet factory in York sets a worrying precedent that I hope won’t spread east. I have repeatedly written to and questioned in Committee Agriculture Commissioner Fischer Boel about the specifics of the sugar reform and, working with the NFU and colleagues in Brussels and Westminster, will keep the pressure on the Commission and the Government to ensure a fair settlement.
The DEFRA and RPA debacle with single farm payments has been a disgrace. I was horrified that the Minister responsible for driving many farmers deep into the red was rewarded for her incompetence by being made Foreign Secretary in the Spring Reshuffle. We can but hope that David Milliband, according to Tony Blair the Wayne Rooney of his Cabinet, proves more capable. However, Mr Milliband’s enthusiasm for voluntary modulation, which would put British farmers at a disadvantage in comparison to other European farmers, does not bode well.
The question of the EPP has been the cause of much heated debate. My position throughout this difficult period was always very clear: I was happy to leave the EPP if there was a credible alternative but I did not consider sitting with the likes of Le Penn and Mussolini a credible alternative. My family fought and died to keep right-wing fascists out of Britain and I could not align myself politically with view which fundamentally oppose everything I believe in.
I was delighted that David Cameron has pledged to take us out of the EPP in 2009 and I look forward to helping build the relationships in the Parliament that will make this possible. In my view leaving the EPP immediately is less important than establishing a clear vision of the Europe of the future that we want rather than defining ourselves negatively by what we oppose.
I would also like to thank the political editors of regional and local papers particularly the East Angian Daily Times and the Eastern Daily Press.
