March 16, 2009

EU costs every family £4,700, says new study

£4,700 a year: that´s the cost of Britain’s membership of the European Union to the average household, according to new research by the Taxpayers´ Alliance. That´s £2,000 for every man, woman and child in the country.

 

Roger Helmer, Conservative MEP for the East Midlands, has launched a hard-hitting advertising campaign across the region to highlight the huge cost of the EU to taxpayers. Featuring the slogan: "The EU: It´ll have the shirt off your back", it focuses on the massive economic penalties of EU membership.

 

The slogan is backed up by fuller details on Mr. Helmer´s web-site at www.rogerhelmer.com, setting out the economic costs of membership, and other consequences of EU rules that affect people up and down the region -- like post office closures and fortnightly rubbish collections, which are driven by EU regulations. Full details of the Taxpayers´ Alliance research are available on http://www.taxpayersalliance.com.

 

The campaign comes as many families across Britain, and across the East Midlands, are suffering from financial challenges, and many are worried about their jobs, their businesses and their mortgages. Helmer argues that this is the right time to highlight the wastefulness of the European Union, and how it is making Britain less competitive in a globalised world. Commenting on his campaign, which appears in major regional papers in March, Helmer says: "The costs of EU membership were too high even in the good times -- and are getting worse following Tony Blair´s agreement to start giving up the British rebate. But now that we´re facing the worst recession in living memory, these costs are simply unsupportable".

 

Speaking of the advert, Mr Helmer commented; “I´m delighted with the ad. It´s a compelling image which commands attention, and it makes its point with economy and with humour. I fully expect that a few socialist kill-joys will call it sexist -- but then I don´t do political correctness!"

 

A postcard featuring the ad, and the key points about EU costs is available from Mr Helmer’s office at: pressoffice@eastmidsmeps.co.uk or Boswell House, 9 Prospect Court, Courteenhall Road, Blisworth, Northamptonshire, NN7 3DG.

 

Note to editors
"Roger Helmer is a Non-Attached Member of the European parliament": This is required text to enable Mr. Helmer to claim the costs of the campaign against his parliamentary information allowance. Mr. Helmer is of course a Conservative MEP, and is a full member in good standing of the British Conservative MEP delegation. Unlike most other Conservative MEPs, however, he is not a member of the European People´s Party (EPP) Group. David Cameron has committed the Party to taking its MEPs out of the EPP at the end of the current parliament -- Mr. Helmer is ahead of the game.

 

For more information please visit www.rogerhelmer.com

» back to the NEWS