Stop the Cheques - Democracy Movement campaign



Where am I? home > stop the cheques mini-site > Brown's budget: what if we Stop the Cheques?
Brown's budget: what if we were to Stop the Cheques? 24th March 2006 Gordon Brown this week announced his budget for 2006/07. To mark the occasion we've looked at ten specific spending pledges he made in his speech in the context of the £82 million a week (net) that we paid the EU in 2004 - set to rise to £115 million a week from next year. The result shows that, had we stopped the cheques just 18 months ago when the EU failed its audit for the 10th year running, today Brown would have had the funds to double these amounts he pledged to spend: 1. "to promote peacekeeping in the most troubled countries of the world, I am today also setting aside an additional £200 million" (equals 3 weeks worth of EU payments) 2. "Britain will in future have a single budget for the medical research council and NHS research. And it will be worth £1 billion per year" (NHS research = 13 weeks) 3. "The Deputy Prime Minister is today announcing the allocation of £970million for shared equity to help new homeowners get their first step on the ladder of homeowning" (12 weeks) 4. "we have doubled the budgets for security here at home from £1 billion to £2 billion" (security budget = 25 weeks) 5. "the new UN emergency relief fund will...immediately provide as its first major disbursement $30million in famine relief to the Horn of Africa - building on our own emergency contribution of $60million." (£35 million, equalled in 3 weeks) 6. "For training and facilities for our world class athletes of the future, I can announce £200million of public money...over £600 million in total" (6 weeks) 7. "we are today announcing initial funding of £34 million for a new national sports foundation" (a mere 3 days worth of money to the EU) 8. "at an additional cost of £100 million we will ensure that by April next year we will more than double the number of community support officers from 6,000 to 16,000. And ensure that there will be neighbourhood policing in every community in England and Wales" (equalled in 2 weeks) 9. "the Transport Secretary is announcing today that from April 2008 at a cost of £250 million for every pensioner and for disabled people free off peak national bus travel in every area of the country". (3 weeks) *10.* "with £270 million extra from April, rising to £440 million next year, I can today put much more money than before direct to our schools for tuition, teachers and teacher support". (just 4 weeks of EU payments would match this) All these budget spending pledges add up to 71 weeks worth of payments to the EU. So if we had stopped the cheques to the EU around 18 months ago - when the EU failed its audit for the 10th year running - Gordon Brown could today have doubled his investments in the areas listed above. Or alternatively, if schools are his priority, he could have doubled the entire total investment in schools for the coming year of £6 billion. Or the £3.4 billion funding for the 2012 Olympics could have been accrued within 42 weeks, with no extra burden on the government, London taxpayers or the national lottery. Today's EU is draining Europe's resources and depriving funds from improving education, security and the environment, for international development and reducing poverty and for strengthening the economy. Facilitating trade & co-operation in Europe simply does not need the EU's massive central budget. Stop the Cheques to the EU today, and just imagine the funds that could be available for the budget next year. READ MORE: Gordon Brown's budget speech in full more >> Stop the Cheques campaign mini-site more >> Blair's EU budget myths exposed more >> Visit our Vision Europe mini-site more >>

		All Rights Reserved. © Democracy Movement 2006