Spending on waste
Our MPs have betrayed us. Last year they agreed to send a record £15.0
billion of our money to the European Union, a corrupt organisation whose books
the auditors have refused to sign for the last eleven years.
This is equivalent to £289 million per week, or £41 million per day,
or £1.72 million per hour.
Our MPs seem to think this is value for money.
But imagine what we could do with the full £15 billion?
For a start, £3 billion of it would not be lost in fraud and waste –
which is what the EU currently loses.
With that £15 billion we could:
- Invest in new hospitals
- Open new schools
- Improve our run down rail network
- Employ more nurses and teachers
- Give our pensioners a decent living pension
But this is just the amount we pay directly to Brussels.
Hidden costs
If the other, hidden costs are taken in to account, we are paying much, much
more to belong to this undemocratic club.
A recent report by the Bruges group shows that we are paying £100,000 a
minute to Brussels.
Time and time again our MPs have been asked to give the British people a
detailed cost/benefit analysis of belonging to the EU.
But they never do it.
Instead they tell us that the benefits of being part of the European Union are
so self-evident that it would be a waste of money to do a detailed breakdown of
the costs.
Well, here are a few facts:
- Britain has given close to £200 billion to the EU since Ted Heath conned
us into joining the common market in 1973
- In 2007 UK taxpayers will be forced to pay £14.2 billion to the EU
- The EU costs every man, woman and child £873 per year
- The EU is costing the British economy £50.6 billion this year, and by
2007 this will rise 52.4 billion.
These figures are so mind boggling they are hard to comprehend.
To put it into perspective, just £1 billion would pay for:
- 222,000 hip replacements
- or 46,893 nurses
- or 38,782 teachers
- or 34,585 police officers.
What would you want your money spent on? Would you want billions of pounds of
your money going to an organisation which the auditors have refused to sign the
books for over the last 11 years?
Behind bars
If the European Union Commissioners were the board of directors of a Plc, they
would be behind bars now, their company would have been wound up, and their
creditors paid with the proceeds.
But this is politics not business and the EU carries on regardless.
Here at speakout we believe this gravy train can be halted.
If enough of us demand a referendum on returning vital powers back to Britain,
we can ensure that it is an elected Parliament that decides where British
taxpayers' money is spent and not an unelected Commission.
Support the speakout campaign and send a powerful message to Brussels that the
days of free-loading and waste are over.
We believe that if enough people speak out we can get a referendum on the return
of this and other vital powers from Brussels to Britain.
Join the 87% of people who want a say in getting these powers back – and
demand a referendum. It is time our elected politicians listened to the people
and defended our democratic rights.
Footnote
Where percentages have been quoted research was carried out by
Yougov 6th-10th October 2006. 2205 responents were surveyed. Respondents who
refused to answer or didn't have an opinion have been excluded from the
figures.
Related articles
A Cost too far? By Ian Milne is a devastating critique of the
cost of the European Union:
Click Here
Go to
The Bruges Group:
Click here
Official sites
The Treasury:
Click here