Letter to the Editor: EU 'Crisis'

SIR - I would like to know why it is that the South East's Labour MEP no longer feels that British citizens should be considered innocent until proven guilty.

The European Parliament recently supported a proposal to scrap EU guidelines on the amount of tobacco and alcohol that can be brought back into the UK from other EU states. The current guidelines are actually only advisory and were meant to be interpreted loosely by the Government. Instead, HM Customs officers seem to have been instructed to follow the guidelines to the letter which has resulted in many innocent families having hundreds of pounds worth of goods - and even cars - seized, just for bringing back enough alcohol for a party or enough cigarettes for a year's personal supply.

The Government ought to be standing up for the rights of the consumer in the EU internal market which was designed to allow the unimpeded flow of goods across the borders of the EU. Unfortunately, Labour MEPs failed to do so and opted instead to continue the persecution of innocent Britons at our ports.

Will Peter Skinner MEP explain why, if Labour supports the EU Internal Market, they feel it should not apply to alcohol and tobacco? It is utmost hypocrisy to support the free movement of goods so long as they aren't goods on which the Chancellor relies on excise duty receipts to fund Labour's spending plans!


Yours faithfully,

Nirj Deva DL MEP
Member of the European Parliament for South East England