 Local government: our masters want "freedom" to take our money
Thursday 9 May 2013
Labour, we are told has been accused of plotting to end Council Tax discounts for those living alone.
In a formal submission to ministers, the Local Government Association (LGA) is calling for the power to end the 25 percent discount offered in recognition of the fact single people place fewer demands on local services. Among the thing here which chill the bones, though – apart from the proposal itself – is the assertion that the discount currently "costs" around £2.7 billion a year. The idea that not charging a particular tax is a "cost" is pure Soviet in its purest form. Does income tax at a rate of, say, less than 90 percent, also represent a cost to the state? But it does not stop there. The LGA is also complaining about the legislation which requires them to hold a local referendum if they want to increase council tax by more than two percent a year. The rule was introduced following a free-for-all during Labour's years in power when council tax bills doubled. No council has yet dared to stage a referendum, although a number raised council tax by 1.99 percent this year (including my own). Now says the LGA, town halls should be free to raise council tax "by as much as they like", thus consigning even this limited example of direct democracy to the dustbin of history. And, of course, if this comes to pass, anyone who refused to pay the impost goes straight to jail, with no defence permitted. And there are people in this country who still believe this country to be a democracy. Harrogate agenda anyone? COMMENT THREAD Richard North 09/05/2013 |
EU budget: coming back to haunt us
Thursday 9 May 2013
 What is never said, of course, is that it does take orders from Brussels so, to complete the ritual, I suppose we ought to have Barroso flinging open the door, cackling inanely, uttering the words, "all mine, it's all mine" – followed by the obligatory "foxtrot oscar" addressed to the Monarch. But actually, he need not bother, as he can sit at the centre of his web in Brussels and deliver his edicts, only to have our MPs roll over and do his bidding - without so much as a murmur. And this time, it is the vexed question of the 2012 EU budget, the controversy over which seems to have been going on for ages and is now coming to a sort of resolution. This stems from an agreement yesterday between Barroso, the European parliament (EP) president Martin Schulz and Taoiseach Enda Kenny for the Irish Presidency of the Council, which paves the way for negotiations on the EU's multi-annual budget for 2014-2020, and on the amending budget for 2013. The linkage here has been insisted upon by the EP, and the deal now is that the extra €11.2 billion dosh for the 2012 budget will be paid on two tranches, the first of €7.3 billion, which will be submitted to the ECOFIN Council for approval on 14 May. If there is a vote (most of these issues are agreed by "consensus"), it will be settled by QMV, which means that Britain will be unable to block this payment on its own. And with only the Netherlands (and possibly Austria) even thinking about siding with the UK, we are likely to be well and truly stuffed. And that is only the down payment, as the deal just opens the way for the trilogue on 13 May, to agree the multi-annual budget – the agreement still outstanding, even though Mr Cameron declared victory last February. That the media so willingly fell in with the Cameron fiction is now repeated on them, but they are largely dealing with the humiliation by either not reporting it, or failing to remind people that the budget issue was presented as settled by the entire legacy media. The issue is coming back to haunt us. Even then, there is much water to pass under the bridge, as the Commission – quite correctly – is saying "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed". Until the 2012 amendment budget is agreed, there is going to be no wrap-up on the multi-annual budget, and vice-versa. And in all this, our parliament is merely a bystander. Black Rod can prance about in his pretty lace and stockings, and Dennis Skinner can make silly comments, but the fact is that the real joke is parliament, all dressed up to see the Queen, while our money pours into Brussels and not one of the MPs – nor even the prime minister – can do a thing about it. No wonder the BBC doesn't want to fill us in about the true situation. The Black Rod and his stick is so much more entertaining. COMMENT THREAD Richard North 09/05/2013 |
UK politics: they still don't get it
Wednesday 8 May 2013
 But one thing missing from the discourse was any mention of that king-sized elephant in the room, the EU. No one thought to mention that the reason our MPs have so little to do is because most of our law-making is outsourced to Brussels and beyond. And now, on the day of the Queen's speech, we again get what passes for analysis but, once again, the "limited package" is again seen entirely through the filter of domestic politics. Labour's Chris Bryant claims the speech is so thin it is "practically translucent" (a bit like his underpants). But, its "limited nature”, writes James Kirkup, "reflects the simple fact that we are now less than two years from the next general election. More than anything else, that timetable defines and dictates the Government's agenda". Most of the Coalition's big decisions were made long ago, says Kirkup, and the biggest, on economic policy, was never a matter of legislation. Whatever legislation was needed for major domestic reforms – welfare, schools, the NHS reorganisation – has already been passed. All that remains, he says, is delivery, "actually trying to make those changes work, and make them work in a manner that voters see and appreciate". Yet, as we wrote those few days ago, the European Parliament has rarely been busier, listing on its database 1,301 "legislative acts" so far, for its 2009-2014 session. That is where the action is, we wrote, demonstrating how far the power has drained from Westminster. And just by coincidence, in Brussels on Monday, where the eurocrats were not on holiday, the Commission launched a major new initiative under the working title of "Smarter rules for safer food", a "landmark package to modernise, simplify and strengthen the agri-food chain in Europe". Not least of the measures proposed are those to deal with the fall-out from the horsemeat fraud, but there is a huge range of issues being dealt with, from animal health to the marketing of seeds. Says the Commission, "the current body of EU legislation covering the food chain consists of almost 70 pieces of legislation. Today's package of reform will cut this down to five pieces of legislation and will also reduce the red-tape on processes and procedures for farmers, breeders and food business operators (producers, processors and distributors) to make it easier for them to carry out their profession". But, for the Queen's speech, the nearest we get to dealing with livestock is the announcement of a provision which will lead to an amendment to the Dangerous Dogs Act. The real thing is an EU competence, so this need not concern our media. Despite the massive scale of the EU initiative, it has not been reported in the UK by the national newspapers. Therein lies yet more evidence that the legacy media is writing itself out of the script. It no longer has any pretensions of reporting the news in any responsible way, while its analytical skills have atrophied to the extent that they are producing little that is actually worth reading. COMMENT THREAD Richard North 08/05/2013 |
Thursday, 9 May 2013
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