Below
is a letter by Sid Phelps of the Forest of
Dean Green party, which is such a splendid mix of wit and wisdom that I felt it needed
sharing here.
Letter
Last
week’s letter from the UK Independence Party reminded me of Monty Python’s Life
of Brian sketch where Reg the Briton asks the prosaic question: What have the
Romans ever done for us?
Well,
what has EU membership ever done for us? Well if you discount peace
between member states for the last fifty years then there’s legislation that
protects our environment; landfill, wildlife, habitats, water-quality, air
quality, reduction of climate change gases etc; and there’s workers’
rights - ensuring paid holidays, health & Safety protection at work, equal
treatment for part-time workers & women and protection when businesses are
sold.
But
don’t listen to the Greens or the Left. Even in a recent CBI survey, 8 out of 10 firms believe we have a better future within
Europe than out of it.*
Admittedly,
not everything about the EU is perfect – bureaucracy, inefficiency and accountability
being major problems; but as we go into the campaign for the European
elections next May, let’s think about whether or not we are, like Reg the
Briton – glossing over the major achievements over the last 40 years of the EU
just because a minority of us simply don’t like Europe.
If you want to see those
positive aspects of the EU supported, Molly Scott Cato is the local Green
candidate for European election in 2014.
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