News from The Labour Party

“British business can’t afford Tories’ European policy”

Glenis Willmott MEP, Labour’s leader in the European Parliament, in an article for Progress online today, warned of the threat that David Cameron’s EU policies pose to jobs and investment in Britain.

Glenis Willmott highlighted research showing the benefits to Britain of projects and funding delivered by the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) that the Tories would scrap.

In 2007/08 alone RDAs:

* helped create more than 125,000 jobs
* provided support to help over 112,000 people get a job
* assisted more than 260,000 businesses to improve their performance
* helped nearly 370,000 people boost their skills
* attracted over £2.5 billion in infrastructure investment

The Conservatives would scrap this support for businesses.

Glenis Willmott said:

“David Cameron’s policy of isolation in Europe and the Tories’ pledge to scrap Regional Development Agencies would be a double-whammy against British businesses and local communities.

“RDAs drive their regional economies forward, pulling together European investment and identifying local priorities to deliver for business. In my own area, the East Midlands, the RDA has helped over 67,000 businesses. Independent auditors recently found that, overall, every pound invested by Regional Development Agencies grows the local economy by four times that.

“As the European Parliament closed last week, Tory MEPs lined up to criticise David Cameron’s policy on Europe. The Tories’ own Shadow Business Secretary, Ken Clarke, thinks their attitude to the EU is ‘absurd’ and ‘crackpot’. The Tories’ incoherent European policy is an approach that British businesses can’t afford.”