Labour's thirteen MEPs are part of the large socialist group in the European Parliament. They are able to achieve a lot because there is none of the yah-boo personal abuse type of politics so favoured by David Cameron at Westminster.
In contrast to the progressive politics of Labour, Tory MEPs have chosen to join with a ragbag of small right-wing parties that can do little for most of us in Britain.
What Labour's MEPs have done for YOU
Labour helps ordinary working people and their families. The record funding over the last 12 years in the health service (new hospitals, more doctors and nurses), in education (more funding per pupil, more teachers and assistants), and for families, with the national minimum wage, tax credits to lift children out of poverty, Sure Start centres to help children in the most deprived communities, and a million new child care places. And there is much more for Labour to be proud of.
Contrast this with the Tories, who look after the millionaires, proudly proposing zero inheritance tax for estates up to £1,000,000!
LABOUR DEALS WITH THE PROBLEMS THAT MOST MATTER TO YOU.
The European Union gets a bad press in Britain. The wealthy media moguls don't like being told what they can and cannot do. Some of the myths and lies put out by the press are recorded on an EU web site.
You may be surprised at the many achievements of Labour MEPs, that are good news for ordinary hard working Britons. We list a small number of them below.
- signed Britain
up to the Social Chapter giving our workers a guaranteed right to paid
holiday and better maternity and paternity rights
- implemented
EU laws to limit the maximum working time to 48 hours per week
- brought in measures
to give part-time and temporary workers the same rights as full-time
workers as regards training, pensions, maternity rights and leave
- enabled
the adoption of Europe-wide laws against discrimination on grounds of
gender, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age,
or sexual orientation
- improved parliamentary
scrutiny by allowing 6 week period for national governments to examine
EU proposals before decisions are taken by the EU Council of Ministers
and given the EU parliament the right to adopt or oppose legislation
through the 'co-decision' procedure
- voted
for reform of MEPs' expenses and required every Labour MEP to have their
spending verified by an external auditor, rather rely only on EU parliament
checks
- secured
a plan cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% and set a target of 20% of
energy to come from renewable sources both by 2020
- set
up a Europe-wide scheme to protect vulnerable habitats with rare species
of animals and plants
- increased the
amount of packaging waste that must be recycled. EU states will be required
to recycle 55% of glass, paper, cardboard, metal and plastics
- adopted measures to prevent mobile phone companies ripping you off by cutting their roaming fees.
This is just a small selection of Labour's achievements. If you want to read more you can download the full document from the European Labour Party web site.
60% of our exports and 3 million jobs depend on trade with EU countries. The Eurosceptic Tories and UKIP would put your livelihood at risk.
