How the EU failed Rother Valley
The article below sets out in stark detail how our region has not seen a significant return on investment from our membership of the EU
Since 2007 voters in Yorkshire and Humber have paid over £12billion into the EU. In the period 2007-2013 the region received just £747m in return - and in the subsequent period was earmarked for even less - just £606m. A total return on investment of just £1.3bn - and the vast majority of that rebate goes into Leeds City Region.
The Return on Investment for the people of Rother Valley is shocking - and it will need very strong representation for our area after Brexit when that money is not going to the EU - but into our Govts coffers.
I will hold that Govt accountable at every opportunity for our region - and be a voice for all of us - not just somebody who will be told what to say and how to vote by the Tories or Labour.
From the Egyptian pyramids to the cathedrals in York and Lincoln, buildings have always been used by the powerful to project their dominance.
The European Union hasn't directly built any buildings in our part of the world, but it has helped fund a lot of new developments, many of which come with a sign saying "built with money from the EU".
For some this is the EU projecting "power" in a different way.
The issues of money, power and buildings are interconnected, which is why the debate about how much money the EU spends in our region is important.
But what has the European institution spent in Yorkshire? And how much has Yorkshire and the Humber effectively paid in?
As with all the numbers in this referendum debate, they're hotly disputed by both sides.
If you account for the British rebate, the effective discount on our membership that Margaret Thatcher negotiated in 1984, the UK sent £12.9bn to the European Union in 2015.
As a very rough calculation, when you divide the UK's overall payment by the number of taxpayers in the region, Yorkshire and the Humber contributed about £1bn towards that overall amount.
In comparison, the Yorkshire and Humber received £747m (979m euros) in funding from the EU between 2007 and 2013, according to the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI).
If you accept the rough workings of this calculation, that means we gave the European Union more money in one year than we got back in the space of six years.
However, that doesn't take into account the indirect effect EU money has had on the region such as the additional jobs that have been created because an EU backed project got the go-ahead.
So what exactly has the money gone towards?
York University got the single biggest grant for a new building, with the EU providing £19m in match funding for a new science park.
But it's not just buildings that have been funded. Some £30m was spent on the roll-out of broadband across the region and in total the money has helped create 20,000 new jobs and 2,700 businesses, according to the government.
Was all that money well spent? Well that probably depends on your point of view of the EU as a whole.
Article reproduced from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36420415
Why Labours manifesto spells disaster for UK small businesses
96% of the 5.5million businesses in the UK employee 9 people or less. (1)
The average profit of a UK business with 9 employees or less is £15,000. (2)
The introduction of the National Living Wage has affected the distribution of earnings with over 10% of employee jobs paid at, or within 20 pence of, the National Minimum Wage hourly rate in 2019. (3)
Yesterdays Labour Manifesto launch will impact on the UK’s small and micro businesses like never before. One key announcement…
Raise minimum wage from £8.21 to £10
…effectively an immediate (within 1 year) 18% pay rise for 2 million people, will have a knock on effect on all but a few of the businesses in the sector. I’ll explain…
Currently an employee on the National Minimum Wage (NMW) of £8.21 doing 37.5 hrs a week earns £16,009.00 a year - with Automatic Enrolment an employer will contribute 3% of this to their pension - meaning actual cost to an employer is £16,490.00
At the proposed rate of £10 - the employee earnings would be £19,500.00 a year - automatic enrolment would see the true employer cost rise to £20,085.00
Therefore - the true cost to 96% of the UKs businesses is an extra £3,595.00 per NMW employee on the books. With average company profits at £15k - any business with 4 employees or more will struggle to make a profit at all. (Although this means they won’t have any Corporation Tax to pay at Labours new rate either!!)
The real effect of such a sharp rise will mean employers have to raise prices of their products - and this will then impact on inflation and reduce the effect of wage rises anyway.
The current proposal for the NMW to rise to £10.50 over the next 5 years is sustainable and can be managed over a period. It would also mean that the United Kingdom has the highest minimum wage in the developed world.
It is irresponsible fiscal policy to impose such a huge burden on 95% of the UKs employers in such a short time.
Sources:
(1). https://www.merchantsavvy.co.uk/uk-sme-data-stats-charts/
(2) https://www.statista.com/statistics/291299/average-profit-of-smes-in-the-uk-by-enterprise-size/
Throwing my hat in the ring...
I'm not a politician. I've never harboured any desire to run the country (whatever my Dad would have had you believe!)
I'm a common man, who puts his family above everything, who feels bitterly let down by our Parliament in recent years. Not just on Brexit - but on other issues which affect our local community which I care so much about.
HS2. Fracking. Unemployment, particularly amongst our young. Localised flooding. The lack of affordable housing. Anti social behaviour. The way we are constantly overlooked in favour of the South. The list appears endless.
Successive governments (of all denominations) have done little for Rother Valley. I don't pretend I can wave a magic wand and fix all of that - but what I can promise is that party politics will never come above what I am prepared to do for our region.
If you have ever visited a polling booth, looked at the options and wished there was a 'None of the above' box - then I will be your best option on December 12th. And I promise to work my socks off for Rother Valley if we achieve the miracle and choose a non Labour MP for the first time ever.
Thank you