Richard Ashworth MEP Fights Sunbeam Insanity
The following shows a strange conflict between what UKIP promises and what it delivers in Brussels/Strasbourg:
Tories throughout the South East voted UKIP against their normal Conservative tendency at the European elections in the hope that this would help us reduce the time we have to remain an EU member state. It looks like this was a mistake!
South East MEP and Tory Whip, Richard Ashworth, has accused Labour and UKIP members in Strasbourg of jeopardising UK businesses by exposing them to the red tape risk from the so-called "Sunshine Directive".
Richard and his Conservative Group colleagues led an attempt to scrap the infamous directive which would force employers in the South East to monitor the exposure of workers to natural sunlight.
"This is protection gone mad. Of course we want safety at work to receive the highest priority but for bosses to have to tell workers to cover up or rub on some sunblock, is meddlesome nannying of the worst kind," says the MEP.
The Conservative Group narrowly failed in their attempt to scrap the "sunshine directive" because UKIP MEPs voted against an amendment which would have removed natural sunlight altogether from the scope of the draft EU law. The ten UKIP members voted against the Conservative amendment. The amendment was supported by a majority of 361 MEPs, with 296 against, but failed by just six votes to reach the "qualified majority" level of 367 required to amend legislation in a second reading.
"It’s hypocritical of UKIP to boast they are the champions of freedom from EU bureaucracy when they fail to take a stand against this ridiculous law which would impose an enormous burden on local employers," says Richard.
The Tory group did however achieve a significant victory by persuading a majority of MEPs to support a fall-back compromise amendment which proposed that the issue be left to member states to decide. Labour MEPs fought the principle of subsidiarity but were outvoted.
Richard and his Conservative Group colleagues led an attempt to scrap the infamous directive which would force employers in the South East to monitor the exposure of workers to natural sunlight.
"This is protection gone mad. Of course we want safety at work to receive the highest priority but for bosses to have to tell workers to cover up or rub on some sunblock, is meddlesome nannying of the worst kind," says the MEP.
The Conservative Group narrowly failed in their attempt to scrap the "sunshine directive" because UKIP MEPs voted against an amendment which would have removed natural sunlight altogether from the scope of the draft EU law. The ten UKIP members voted against the Conservative amendment. The amendment was supported by a majority of 361 MEPs, with 296 against, but failed by just six votes to reach the "qualified majority" level of 367 required to amend legislation in a second reading.
"It’s hypocritical of UKIP to boast they are the champions of freedom from EU bureaucracy when they fail to take a stand against this ridiculous law which would impose an enormous burden on local employers," says Richard.
The Tory group did however achieve a significant victory by persuading a majority of MEPs to support a fall-back compromise amendment which proposed that the issue be left to member states to decide. Labour MEPs fought the principle of subsidiarity but were outvoted.
Tories throughout the South East voted UKIP against their normal Conservative tendency at the European elections in the hope that this would help us reduce the time we have to remain an EU member state. It looks like this was a mistake!
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