How much does the E.U. cost us?

[Ryehill]

            Professor Timothy Congdon, a well known economist and U.K.I.P. member, has recently done an in depth study of the cost of Britain's membership of the E.U. His findings  show that it now costs this country£150 billion per annum. This sum is equal to 10% of the G.D.P. of the U.K.. This figure includes not only our monetary contribution to the E.U. , but all other costs associated with membership. This is an enormous amount of money and  equates to £6k from every family in the land.   The local Conservatives should be complaining to their P.M. about this  burden instead of  grumbling about the cost of holding the Seaton by-election.

[mk1]

            Professor Timothy Congdon, a well known economist.................

So far so good.

and U.K.I.P. member,

I thought it was too good to be true!

[Ryehill]

                     I deliberately put in the fact the Prof. Congdon is a U.K.I.P. member so that readers are fully aware of his political affiliation. This should not detract from his report. In it he says that he knew beforehand , from previous studies, that the E.U. was a very expensive club to be in,  but he was extremely suprised to find that the cost was much, much bigger than he anticipated.

[Ryehill]

 Whether Professor Congdon's report was published is irrelevant.  The important point is whether or not his findings are accurate.

[SRMoore]

            The local Conservatives should be complaining to their P.M. about this  burden instead of  grumbling about the cost of holding the Seaton by-election.

How do you know that we haven't?

[mk1]

         
How do you know that we haven't?

Let no bandwagon be unjumped on!

[SRMoore]

I don't think this is a bandwagon mk1. My point was that yet again the UKIP seem to be stating their assumptions on the local Conservative group as fact. 
Let me expand on my previous reply.

Numerous members of the local Conservative Association have voiced their concerns and opinions on the EU to the central party via numerous methods over the years. We do not however feel that this is the ONLY subject and policy we should fixate on.
Being a devolved party and doing as I would hope the residents of Hartlepool would prefer, most members of the Hartlepool Conservative Association focus our time and energy addressing issues that effect people in Hartlepool directly and can be solved locally.

[mk1]

Being a devolved party and doing as I would hope the residents of Hartlepool would prefer, most members of the Hartlepool Conservative Association focus our time and energy addressing issues that effect people in Hartlepool directly and can be solved locally.

Seems reasonable.
Though I never shared their politics I still fondly remember the days when Wright, Rodgers, and Goodhall were the local Tory Party.
Is Mrs Goodhall still around?
I saw her a couple of years ago on the train and she recognised and spoke to me even though it is about  25(?) years since I saw her in the shop.

[Ryehill]

         S.R.MOORE. I am pleased to hear that the local Conservative Association have voiced their concerns about the E.U. to Central Office, but don't you get the feeling that your concerns fall on deaf ears and that your opinions dont count. This is probably the main reason why Conservative Party membership has halved since Cameron was elected leader.

[SRMoore]

Ryehill, No I don't get that feeling at all. When I see pressure being brought on this government by Conservative backbenchers to get out of the EU almost on a daily basis. With over 80 Conservative MPs happy enough to defy a three line whip and vote for a referendum, we are a lot closer to delivering it than UKIP are or have ever been.

As Perseus points out, party membership across all parties have declined over the years. UKIP membership fell from 26,000 at the end of 2004 to 14,800 at the end of 2008. What would you attribute that to? It is no secret that the Conservative party has an ageing membership, this is however shanging since the party now has the largest political youth organisation in the UK (approx 16-18,000 members in CF).

[SRMoore]

Being a devolved party and doing as I would hope the residents of Hartlepool would prefer, most members of the Hartlepool Conservative Association focus our time and energy addressing issues that effect people in Hartlepool directly and can be solved locally.

Seems reasonable.
Though I never shared their politics I still fondly remember the days when Wright, Rodgers, and Goodhall were the local Tory Party.
Is Mrs Goodhall still around?


I saw her a couple of years ago on the train and she recognised and spoke to me even though it is about  25(?) years since I saw her in the shop.

For obvious legal reasons I can't discuss who is or is not a member of the local association but I can tell you that as a young pup I have not had the pleasure of working with Mrs Goodhall.

As an ex employee of Tommy Raw, I know that old school shop keepers never forget a trouble causers face

[mk1]

I will again state the obvious.
Cameron is isolating his backwoodsmen.
He is using the Libs so as to ignore his lunatic right wingers.
As long as he has Clegg he can ignore the nutters.
Elections are won in the centre ground.
Extremes views/single issue obsessives will never be in the majority.
Cameron wants to stay in power and his sentiments are slightly  to the right of Blair.
Whilst  I am not a Cameron supporter I broadly agree with his tactic of keeping the  looneys muzzled.

Do not forget that Cameron did not get a majority and the opinion polls confirm he has not gained any ground since the election.

[Ryehill]

          The lack of proper debate on the subject of 'How much does the E.U. cost us' leads me to the conclusion that Mark1 and Perseus accept Professor Congdon's figures .

[mk1]

          The lack of proper debate on the subject of 'How much does the E.U. cost us' leads me to the conclusion that Mark1 and Perseus accept Professor Congdon's figures .

It is Mk1 and  I am not a one subject obsesive.
I am not in the least bit interested in your (hoped for) by election upset where you start (again) on  the long road to power.
That which dominates your every waking hour is of no real interest to the rest of us. You are a small marginalised group locked in a world where every action is considered a dark and evil plot by the 'Yuropeans'.
A universe where everyone is plotting against you and letters to newspapers/message boards  are dominated by capital letters and stock phrase not seen since  the height of the Cold War.
In short you are seen as wierdos and dangerous extremists.
I am quite happy to see you post your paranoi and I am amazed you have not yet realised how  your group is seen by the rest of us.
Keep writing the suicide notes!

[mk1]

I However, I see Comrades' perseus and MK1 have decided that they would much rather insult 'en-masse' the Roman Catholic Church, The Anglican Church, The Islamic Faith, Judaism and a sizeable majority of the secular population by calling them 'homophobes' , 'nutters', 'extremists' and 'dinosaurs'. 

Let me clear up the confusion.
You are the only nutter I know.
Having been educated first by Nuns and then By Friars and living beside an above average number of Aisians then I can say I am well versed in the ways of Catholics and Muslims. To my knowledge I do not know any Jews but a family I know  have a very high incidence of biblical names for the offspring so I might be wrong.
Anglicans? You got me. I don't know any but  2 women 'Vicars' live together quite near me and we are on nodding terms. Could that count as Anglican and also  get me in the 'homophobic' listings?
I worked for years beside one very camp individual but he was quite a (small c) conservative -he had no time for Mandelson and his Hartlepool coterie. He knew some of them personaly(in the Biblical sense-another Christain brownie point for me?) and was quite scathing as to their integrity.
Oh and he told me the SCABs are not the only Gays on the Council.

Never the man to use one cliche when 3 will fit are you?