Dec 2009 04

Boris should tell Brussels to get on their bikes7

The Evening Standard reports that Boris Johnson is faced with the possibility of having to ban cars entirely from London for several days or be slapped with a £300 million fine from the EU.

There is a wider debate to be had over why London is failing to hit its air quality targets, and how the capital ended up in this situation. However, in this pressing crisis, three things are clear:

1) Neither the people nor the elected representatives of London were ever asked about this target or these rules.

2) Taxpayers cannot afford to pay £300m more into the bottomless pit of Brussels. Nor would doing so improve the air quality of London in any way.

3) It would be devastating to the economy, not to mention the public transport system, if cars were banned even for a few days.

There is one straightforward and practical answer: we should refuse to pay the fine if we don't hit the target. It has no democratic legitimacy and as Tim Montgomerie points out on ConservativeHome there are certainly plenty of other European cities with far poorer air quality that do not penitently cough up a fortune to the EU for it.

As our polling found back in May, the public are up for a fight with Brussels – with 69% supporting a policy of disobeying EU rules, and 60% agreeing that we should refuse to pay EU fines.

The best way to cut back on hot air would be for Boris to tell the Eurocrats to get on their bikes.

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  • Phil

    Tell this totalitarian regime to poke it.

  • eileen pohl and alan broomhead

    this is getting completely out of hand and
    brussels is taking the mick,they seem to
    conveniently forgotten that had it not been
    for the british and commonwealth troops in the last war liberating europe there would
    be no e.u. its high time they started showing us some respect instead of their
    incessant demands for more money from us and
    treating us with contempt by demanding more
    money,had we been living in a democracy we
    would have been allowed a vote wether to stay in the e.u.or leave it.as my understanding is we pay more contributions
    than some countries twice our size.

  • Mrs Mole

    It is time this country stood up for it’s self and told Brussels we are not putting up with any more regulations from them. Come on Boris do your job and start looking after the british people. We have not voted for any of this Gordon Brown and Tony Blair have sold us down the river.

  • Alan White

    On the subject of EU fines, did the French ever pay the one levied on them for continuing to block sales of British beef after the ban was lifted?

  • Ken Grayling

    Boris could also open the books on TfL so that we can see who in what position is getting so much of our money

  • Boiling Mad

    If only Boris were leader of the Conservative Party, we might stand a chance of saving this country from EU tyranny. Can’t see flip-flop Cameron doing much.

  • Steve Palmer

    I would like to see a bill passed that forbids the UK goverment paying any money whatsoever to any organisation that has not had its books audited and passed. Since the EU books have failed audits over the past many years we could legitimately hold on to the billions we hand over until the books are audited and the waste and corruption exposed and cracked down upon.