Sent to the Solihull Times

I write from Strasbourg, the second location for the EU Parliamentary travelling circus. Twelve times a year for four days it arrives here to comply with the treaty to which all 27 EU states are bound. I shall explain why it resembles “Fred Karno’s”.

On the other 317 days it lies empty, heated, guarded, cleaned and maintained. Consequently we assumed 784 MEPs (78 from UK) would vote against this white elephantine overhead, costing more than 250 m euros per year just to move the paper and junk from Brussels and back.

When they voted this year to keep this offensive waste of taxes we suggested it was about MEP expenses not government, but we would wouldn’t we?

Strasbourg is a beautiful city with cathedral, canals, cafes and chic shops but for me its contribution towards the 75 per cent of UK law made in the EU tarnishes this image.

Here directives affecting your UK Post Offices were made “liberalising the services to competition” which effectively means taking away and selling off the profitable parts to let the overall service die or survive with more subsidy out of ratepayers’ pockets and more junk mail. All blessed by UK MEPs who pretend otherwise.

I am here to expose and report on the internal workings of the EU gravy train and although I come with a Government Health Warning “Listening to UKIP will distort your political mind” I hope that you will read the next instalment in the Solihull Times – why not the Solihull people pay enough tax towards this gravy train!