Part of BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE (LISBON TREATY) (No. 7) – in the House of Commons at 1:22 pm on 27 February 2008.
Greg Knight
Chair, Procedure Committee
1:22,
27 February 2008
Does my hon. Friend share my anger and concern that in the past few days, despite sensible opposition by Her Majesty's Government, the European Union has decreed that from 2011 all motor cars will have to have daytime running lights? Is he aware that, in answer to a parliamentary question that I tabled, the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Jim Fitzpatrick, revealed that that will result in an increase in fuel consumption of about 5 per cent.? Is not that a good example of what is rotten in the European Union—the blanket, one-size-must-fit-all approach, which in this instance will lead to an unnecessary imposition on the British motorist and will increase emissions?
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Malcolm Langton
Posted on 29 Feb 2008 12:59 pm (Report this annotation)
I entirely agree with Greg Knight. There is a substantial difference between the traffic situations in, say, Finland and Malta, and to impose the same conditions re. car lighting in both countries just makes the EU a laughing stock. Add to that the apparant disregard of the environmental impact of these new rules gives the impression that the EU is hypocritical when it talks about the seriousness of climate change. How much does this kind of thing cost the taxpayer?
Malcolm Langton