Mark Mardell's Euroblog

Brussels and babies' bottoms

• Mark Mardell
• 6 Jul 07, 02:19 PM

It’s fascinating to see how some stories are translated in the oddest places. Take this headline: “Brussels wants to tax our nappies”. It is perfectly true. Under European Commission proposals to harmonise VAT, children’s clothing would lose its exemption.

But Britain has a veto and the government has promised to use it. In fact, it was one of the Conservatives’ complaints that “not losing the veto over taxation” was a spurious red line for Tony Blair at the latest EU summit, because there was no such proposal on the table. The government had the good grace to privately admit it was a bit of a con and “purely presentational”. If Britain did lose the veto on VAT changes, or did not exercise it, it would indeed be a huge story and would cost parents a lot of money. The Sun reports it fairly and accurately.

But the above headline comes not from a tabloid with a political agenda but UK Parents Lounge, which as far as I can discover is about advice to parents, and doesn’t declare any political agenda.

The article goes on: “The UK government has always resisted attempts by Brussels to call the shots over UK taxation, but thanks to Tony Blair's European ambitions, we could be left without a choice.” Which suggests he gave up the veto, which he didn’t.

It continues, “Gordon Brown, just like Tony Blair before him, has not mentioned the EU Treaty to the British public because the Govt has always steered clear of an open debate with the British people.” I don’t know what constitutes “mentioned” but Blair’s Commons statement and Brown’s interviews would seem to count to me.
I would never quibble if this was written by a pressure group or party, or indeed a campaigning newspaper. But it seems a little opinionated coming out of the blue.

Anyway, I’m keeping my judgements to myself while I am on holiday for a week. Although I hope to catch up with slugger for a pint to discuss the finer points of blogging under canvas. But there will be a regular post on Thursday.

I’ve also responded, rather late, to a couple of points in your thoughts about... the Treaty of Lisbon. You can read my reply here.

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