Britannia Radio

24 March 2009 Gordon Brown Escapes Dissection in European Parliament Ashley Mote MEP's Non-Speech After the British prime minister Gordon Brown had addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg today (24 March) one speaker from each political grouping was allowed to respond. Several British MEPs in the non-attached group wanted that slot and all but one failed. Had the opportunity fallen to independent MEP Ashley Mote, this is what he proposed to say: "Mr Brown, on 20th February this year, you said that we were experiencing an "economic hurricane no-one could have predicted". That was utter rubbish, and you know it. A few shrewd economists have been warning of the present disaster for several years, and it required no rocket science to see it coming. The sheer size of the disaster looming, the nature of it, the numbers involved, and the development of worthless trading instruments, have all been lampooned on Channel 4 TV for more than two years.  Are we seriously expected to believe that no-one in government ever watches Bremner, Bird and Fortune? "Yours is the third catastrophic socialist government I have had to endue in my lifetime. "All three (Attlee, Wilson/Callahan and now Blair/Brown) have ended in exactly the same way - the British economy in a total shambles. As a bizarre bonus, you and Mr Blair have also succeeded in turning Britain into something akin to a third world banana republic. "Like all socialists, you squander other people's money until - when it runs out - you simply borrow or create more out of thin air, regardless of the consequences.  So much for prudence.  Profligate, ruinous, wastrels - that's what you are. "And here you are now, strutting on a bigger stage like a failed thespian, claiming this latest disaster is nothing to do with you. That is utter humbug. And it comes after years of deceitful manipulation of British taxation, to say nothing of the massive raid on British pension funds and the hiding of ever more public debt by devices which give the illusion of not being anything of the sort. You forget the British are not fools. "And the HBOS take-over by Lloyds was forced on an unwilling bank, bludgeoned into the merger in unseemly haste and without proper due diligence. It was contrived merely so that you could salvage a few votes in the Glenrothes by-election, and save your next-door socialist seat from humiliation by the SNP.  But at what a cost to the rest of us? To say nothing of the ruination of one of the UK's few remaining credible banking institutions. "Swiss Re is virtually the only financial institution that has had the courage and strength to write off its entire toxic debt and clean up its balance sheet to show its true position. Most others have found neither the courage nor strength, and most of them would be bankrupted if they did. Instead they have conspired with governments like yours to create a new pack of cards based on the source of last resort - your printing presses. "Stupidity piled on stupidity. "No wonder the banks are hording the cash they now hold.  What is the sense of lending it at one or two percent, when your government threatens to charge them 12% for the privilege? To compound the farce, with the credit markets still gummed up, your dysfunctional government is now promoting National Savings in direct competition to the banks that normally depend on savers' deposits to underpin mortgage lending.  No wonder mortgages are impossible to get. "Meanwhile you and your socialist cronies around Europe complain about offshore banking and tax havens, and want to abolish them. Well, you would, wouldn't you? They are a powerful discipline on governments, as well as keeping some small economies afloat.  Above all, these facilities available to the rich play a key role in protecting assets. They keep governments like yours aware of the need for financial prudence and taxation which does not destroy the source of it. "It is obvious why you and the rest of the EU want to abolish tax havens.  It would open the floodgates to yet more profligate public spending. "Instead we, and the rest of the EU for that matter, are expected to watch and accept a devaluation of our assets and currency through the creation of new paper "money" of Zimbabwean proportions. No wonder the Germans won't join in.  They remember the Weimar Republic, and so should we. "Only revenue generated by the private sector can create the source of legitimate taxation and public spending.  All else leads ultimately to devaluation of the currency and inflation. "And what next, or perhaps the day after tomorrow, when the chickens come home to roost? The inescapable consequence is raging inflation, which your heirs and successors will allow to devalue our currencies and the public debt you have built up for our grandchildren. Future governments won't be able to resist the temptation to allow inflation to reduce the liabilities they inherit. As usual we, the people, will bear the true cost. "Meanwhile, you talk of free trade and avoiding protectionism.  More unadulterated cant. What else is the EU but a customs union that penalises outsiders and - for that matter - often penalises insiders as well?"   To respond to, or comment on this Email, please email ashley.mote@btconnect.com