Clegg defends maligned EU

Yet the Sheffield Hallam MP’s self-appointed task of presenting a persuasive case for maintaining ties with Europe might just be assisted by the points raised in this paper today by Johannes Hahn, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy.

While many rightly question the wisdom of giving billions of pounds to Brussels only to get less back in the form of grants, one key question to consider is how exactly this funding is delivered.

Would, for instance, the hundreds of millions of pounds of EU funds that are distributed in Yorkshire come here if it was left to the Government to decide where the money was spent?

In light of recent decisions taken by the coalition, that must be open to question.

As the European Union budget for the next six years is thrashed out, there are concerns once more that the UK Government is intent on diverting large chunks of funding north of the border in order to encourage Scots to vote against independence in next September’s referendum.

The result is that regions such as Yorkshire look likely to lose out. Over the next six years, South Yorkshire stands to be stripped of 56 per cent of its funding – the equivalent of more than £150m of Brussels money.

Ironically, Mr Hahn, a former Austrian minister, tells the Yorkshire Post that he will fight the region’s corner on this issue, seeking to deliver a fairer deal for the region than that advocated by the Government.

Perverse as it may seem, in this case there appears to be more reason to trust Brussels than Whitehall.

And this is one area where europhiles such as Nick Clegg might gain some traction in terms of making a convincing case for continued membership 
of the EU.

Despite widespread – and often warranted – scepticism of the cost effectiveness of EU membership, it raises the intriguing question as to whether Yorkshire’s best interests would be served by Britain remaining in Europe.

Buyers beware

WHEN Gordon Brown pledged to give aspiring homeowners a helping hand in his maiden speech as Chancellor in 1997, he paved the way for a house price boom that would ultimately trigger a devastating financial crash.

Many may think the coalition’s extension of the Help to Buy scheme has worrying parallels. While Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander is right to contrast the situation in London suburbs such as Kensington and Chelsea with that in areas like Yorkshire, the suspicion remains that this represents a return to Labour’s ploy of using a buoyant property market as an artificial driver of economic growth.

That is not to say that there won’t be winners from Help to Buy. It will enable many of those struggling to save for a large enough deposit to leave the rental sector and obtain a mortgage that allows them to buy their own home.

This will then benefit existing homeowners by giving them greater opportunity to move up 
the ladder.

Yet by propping up the housing market from the bottom, there is an obvious concern that this will simply increase the cost of mortgages for new buyers who use the scheme and put the taxpayer at risk further down the line.

Furthermore, Help to Buy only protects lenders, not buyers. Those who take on too much debt and then get into negative equity will still be pursued for the deficit if their property is repossessed.

Rather than offering this incentive to those looking to buy properties worth up to £600,000, the coalition should be working harder to develop policies which stimulate the building of more affordable homes. Help to Buy may well create a short-term feelgood factor that benefits the Tories at the ballot box in 2015, but its impact over the long-term remains to be seen.

Scout’s promise

IN many respects, the Scouts are honouring their timeless motto – “Be Prepared” – by introducing an alternative version of their fabled promise.

The gut instinct of some will be that this is a betrayal of the 106-year-old movement’s Christian ethos, even though all new recruits will be expected 
to do their “duty” to 
the Queen.

Yet the introduction of 
an alternative pledge should be regarded as a reflection of Britain’s changing 
society and viewed through this prism.

Given the extent to which the Scout and Guiding movements have been such a force for good in bringing young people of all religious faiths together to embrace the values that go to the core of civic life in Britain, it makes sense for these institutions to offer the hand of friendship to humanists.

This is not to diminish the importance of the existing pledge. Far from it, as Christian leaders made clear with the careful wording of their announcement. But, if it means more youngsters joining such groups, that can only benefit society as 
a whole – and that is a Scout’s promise.