Friday, March 06, 2009

Snake oil from Sandra

Sandra Gidley is the Lib Dem MP for Romsey in Hampshire, and she is a steaming hypocrite. Like all of her breed she sees an audience and tailors her message for it. It wouldn't surprise me if, finding herself in the deep south she might say a few things not entirely unsuportive of lynching.

Why so rude you say? Well she has just given and interview for the Southampton Echo where she calls for reduction of duty for beer sold in pubs,

“The Government needs to take action to save our locals now. Tax on beer sold in pubs has to be lowered immediately."
Well hold didn't I report a couple of days ago that the Minister had confirmed that this would be illegal under European Law,

On the thorny issue of alcohol tax, Treasury minister Angela Eagle said she was in "Budget purdah" so couldn't go into details.But she said: "I hear what you say about the [duty] escalator and lets keep up theconversation."

She rejected calls for lower alcohol tax for drinks sold at pub compared to supermarkets, saying it would be illegal under EU law."It's not legal to have different tax rates for some products based on where it is sold.

"EU kinks do constrain us."

What really winds me up is of course the Lib/Dems supported the legislation that makes differential tax rates illegal. And she knows this. So all she is doing is holding out false hope to people whose business's are up the spout (25% of Southampton's pubs have closed since the introduction of the smoking ban). The rest are desperate, and this sort of thing from a politician is just cruel.

She also seems to have bit of writers block. This is what she says in today's paper,
“I hope too that residents across Southampton will get down to their locals and show their support for our great British pubs”
This is what she said last June
I hope too that residents across the Test Valley will get down to their locals and show their support for our great British pubs."
And here is another one
"I hope too that residents across Hampshire will get down to their locals and show their support for our great British pubs"
So that is Hampshire, the Test Valley and Southampton all cared for. Oh and as a

If you do care about pubs go here

4 comments:

ENGLISHMAN said...

Apparently it is legal to have different tax rates for the same thing in different places,especially beer,the europeans pay a lot less than we do in this country,the same goes for tobacco,that is the eussr for you ,we did not even get a drink and a smoke out of our membership.

Gawain Towler said...

But not in a single tax jurisdiction

We Change Europe said...

European-Votes: The Reform Treaty of Lisbon now provides Europeans with a concrete tool for the first time - the “Right of Initiative” that is anchored to Article 11. 4 Treaty of Lisbon. Article 11.4 offers the 400 million eligible EU citizens the possibility to express their opinion in a referendum and thus directly influence European decisions.
“We Change Europe” wants to offer the opportunity of getting involved into the process of political decisions made in the EU. Therefore they created an E-Voting tool and the possibility to promote political aims in form of paneuropean initiatives. In order to foster such citizens’ democracy they organize Europe-wide votes for important union-related decision. All Europeans are invited to participate in these initiatives.
At http://www.we-change-europe.eu you can vote, if you will get involved in the following two important topics:
The Europeans are enlarging their Union.
The Europeans elect their President.

Gawain Towler said...

We change Europe,

Though I guess you are a robot, or utterly clueless can I take issue with your post.

What is the point of haveing this right of initiative. There is nothing in the Treaty that makes the Commission take a blind bit of notice. Maybe they think it is a useful pressure relief on important issues. But if they are not prepared to listen to the people of France, Hollansd and Ireland, (far far more than the million) then what makes you think they would give a damn about a disparate geographically unlinked million?

Remember the contempt towards the ne seat campaign?

Twitter