Misleading Flooding Cash Announcements

The old EU propaganda trick of announcing something that they have no intention of actually providing to get good headlines in in full swing again:

In March, the European Parliament voted to give the United Kingdom about £110m from the European Union's Solidarity Fund - a pot of money set aside for member states to apply for if hit by a natural disaster.

But it has now been confirmed the payout will only be £31m.

£31 million is still a lot of money, but why has the amount Britain has been entitled to dropped so drastically?

The government says the answer can be found in a deal made in 1984.

It was then, under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the UK agreed a so-called "abatement mechanism" with the EU - what is commonly known as the rebate.

The rebate ensures money is paid back to the UK to take account of the fact that the country gives more to Europe that it receives.

But one of the compromises of this agreement, it now appears, was that Britain would be entitled to less from pots of money such as the Solidarity Fund.

Hang on. The rebate was negotiated in 1984, and therefore when the EP voted for £100 million in March, they must have known about the rebate and its effect on the payout, as it is not exactly an unforseen circumstance. So you cannot blame Margaret Thatcher for the fact that the EP is ill-informed and incompetent, rather in a mad attempt to secure a good headline in Britain, the Commission let this through, and the slightly deluded Government of Britian then try to pin it on Thatcher, a circumstance that has nothing to do with the deliberate announcement of a figure that was, it turns out, patently incorrect. On this count, the EP, EC and British government must shoulder the blame.

On another note, I have realised that I am eligible for election in the bye-election to be caused by Boris Johnson's elevation to the mayoralty of London. It's scary that 18 year olds can now have a finger on the levers of power.