When he was first elected the Mayor of Hartlepool stood on two pledges. No more Council Tax rises and free bananas for every school child in the town. Of course the Council Tax promise was quickly forgotten and his last column in the Hartlepool (aka Labour Party News) Mail didn’t seem to very impressed with recent Tory pledges on controlling Council Tax. I suppose that shouldn’t be a surprise since Drummond has admitted he voted Labour and he is proud to “lead” a high spending Council as that proves how much he cares. Tax and spend, great Labour policies that have got this country in the mess they are in today!
However, on the bananas front there might be better news. European Union Agriculture Ministers are supporting a scheme offering free fresh fruit and vegetables to millions of schoolchildren next year as a way to promote healthy eating and tackle child obesity.
Anything that gets us some of our own money back from the European Union would normally be welcome. However, the 90 million euros a year in funding comes with the usual strings attached that each European Union country match the amount of cash that it receives from Brussels and must post notices all over the place acknowledging the involvement of the European Union. In this way the European Union gets the UK to pay for good publicity for the EU without having to explain that the money being spent comes from the British Taxpayer in the first place.
There also may be a problem with bananas. Most ministers said they preferred to use locally grown or EU produce so I’m not sure how many European Union countries grow their own bananas?
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