News Releases
Showing: May 2012
Here you can find an archive of all the news items that have been on this website as well as any comments, polls or surveys.
EU Eurodac database is important tool for processing asylum claims and countering terrorism
Posted,5/30/2012 4:00:00 PM
Proposals to strengthen the Eurodac database - which collects fingerprints of asylum seekers and some illegal entrants to the European Union - will assist with processing asylum claims, and will be another useful tool for combating terrorism and serious crime, Timothy Kirkhope MEP, European Conservatives and Reformists group justice and home affairs spokesman, said today.
Tories condemn role of Spanish military in Gibraltar incursion
Posted,5/29/2012 4:00:00 PM
Conservative MEPs have condemned Spanish aggression and called for EU intervention after fishing vessels from Spain provocatively breached Gibraltar's territorial waters under military escort.
Vicky Ford promotes better understanding of stem-cell research
Posted,5/29/2012 10:00:00 AM
Vicky Ford MEP, member of the Industry, Research and Energy Committee in the European Parliament, today co-hosted a lunch debate to better understand the processes and potential benefits of stem cell research.
Conservative Trade Spokesman says EU must help bring Argentina back into line
Posted,5/25/2012 10:00:00 AM
Argentina is behaving like a rogue state and must be brought into line with the help of the EU, Conservative Trade spokesman Robert Sturdy MEP said today.
Tannock: "Move England's Euro fixtures away from Ukraine"
Posted,5/23/2012 2:00:00 PM
England's football fixtures in the European Championship should be switched to venues in Poland in protest over the Ukraine government's deteriorating record of political persecution, London MEP Charles Tannock urged today.
FTT will worsen Europe's ills, not cure them
Posted,5/23/2012 1:00:00 PM
A Financial Transaction Tax would be bad for the whole of Europe - not just bad for Britain - MEPs were warned today.
Growth will be driven by technology and development - not cohesion and false jobs
Posted,5/23/2012 10:00:00 AM
The EU must concentrate all its efforts on measures to drive jobs and growth and stop prioritising pet spending projects such as cohesion funding and social policy, the leader of Britain's Conservative MEPs said today. Speaking before the informal EU summit in Brussels on growth, Richard Ashworth said: "The focus must be on the areas where the EU really can create added value with the money it spends - the fields of research and development, science and real investment in technology and digital infrastructure. "These are the areas where judicious investment can genuinely drive competitiveness and help the continent turn the corner away from its current perilous economic state. "I expect the Prime Minister at the summit will continue driving home the need for reform, the imperative to slash red tape and the urgent requirement for investment that will drive real growth and prosperity - not false jobs in pet social projects, funded by debt. "It is not a case of Northern Europe forcing austerity upon Southern Europe. It is a simple matter of not spending more than you earn - and not buying what you don't really need. We used to call it good housekeeping."
EU consumer agenda empowers shoppers to grow our economies
Posted,5/22/2012 4:00:00 PM
A new agenda for European consumers sets out an ambitious programme for boosting the confidence of shoppers, leading to increased economic activity and growth, Malcolm Harbour MEP, Chairman of the European Parliament's Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee, said today.
MEPs draw a line in the sand over potential EU equal-pay legislation
Posted,5/22/2012 12:00:00 PM
Conservative MEPs are to oppose an EU report which would be an open invitation to Commissioners to draw up another raft of intrusive, Europe-wide social legislation on matters that should be left to member states.
Vicky Ford condemns vandalism at GM trial
Posted,5/21/2012 3:00:00 PM
Vandalism of the GM wheat trial at Rothamsted Research in Hertfordshire is a mindless and ill-informed act which is bad for British science and bad news for fight against food poverty, says MEP Vicky Ford. Mrs Ford visited the crop trial on Friday and met scientists involved with the research project. The trial has involved taking a gene which naturally occurs in spearmint and adding it to a commonly-grown wheat variety. As a result, in laboratory tests the wheat has been shown to produce a smell that repels aphids such as blackfly and greenfly. Aphids rapidly spread crop diseases and are normally controlled by spraying crops with pesticides. Mrs Ford, Conservative MEP for eastern England and the party's research spokesman in the European parliament, said: "So-called campaigners have targeted this trial, claiming that pollen could cross-contaminate wheat in nearby fields. This is completely inaccurate as wheat self-pollinates. "I saw for myself how the crop was being grown at least three times the distance from other crops set by regulators. The wheat was also protected with barrier-planting to prevent wind carrying the pollen. "Britain has some of the strongest regulation on the planet for trails like this, but actions like this just mean scientists move their research programmes overseas to less-regulated countries. "On the eastern side of the UK we have a climate and soil types which make our corner of the globe one of the most successful and predictable places for food and crop research. "People who are care about the environment should be pleased that scientists are seriously looking at ways to reduce use of pesticides. People who care about food poverty and food security should also be encouraging the UK to do all it can to encourage well-regulated science and properly-controlled seed trials. "This vandalism is a bad sign for those of us who care about food poverty, care about the environment and care about British science."