Bonkers Conkers EU Ban Plan
New Legislation Outlaws Conker Trading
The EU have EU-turned:
#Ciolos "it is clear that this #oliveoil measure intended for consumers does not have widespread support among consumers"—
Roger Waite (@ECspokesRoger) May 23, 2013
Yesterday the PM weighed into the daft tale, saying:
“This is exactly the sort of thing that Europe shouldn’t even be discussing. It shouldn’t even be on the table, to force a pun – so to speak. So this shouldn’t even arise. This is exactly the sort of area that the European Union needs to get right out of in my view.”
Well thankfully they have seen the light, but here is another one for Dave to get stuck into…
At the beginning of the month the “Plant Reproductive Material Law” was adopted by the EU Commission to regulate all plants. Seed experts say:
“Under the new law, it will immediately be illegal to grow, reproduce or trade any vegetable seed or tree that has not been tested and approved by a new “EU Plant Variety Agency”, who will make a list of approved plants. Moreover, an annual fee must also be paid to the Agency to keep them on the list, and if not paid, they cannot be produced.”
Which means that strictly speaking it is now in breach of EU regulations for schoolboys to swap or sell their conkers to their mates, without paying an annual fee and without conkers being “officially tested and registered”. Bonkers.
The Indy were rather chuffed with their “some of Britain’s most successful and eminent business leaders” having 
“All the party leaders need to make clear that quitting the EU would be a colossal indulgence. It might fill many with a sense of pride in Britain’s separateness, but it would also mean greater isolation, less trade, smaller influence and fewer friends. In the globalised economy of the 21st century, where production networks and supply chains stretch far across national borders, size – of markets, trading power and negotiating clout – matters more than ever. An isolationist Britain would be weaker and more vulnerable. That must not be our destiny – and the Prime Minister’s job, along with Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg, is to say so, loudly and firmly.”
“There is the substantive question to debate about the evolving nature of the European Union, the Eurozone and its relationship with the outside world. But the fact that Dan Hannan uses the platform of a major daily (see 
Not for Guido to suggest that it might have been drawn up on the back of a fag packet in about half an hour, but there is one very interesting omission in the 
So that Obama endorsement Dave was smiling about last night went well then. The PM is getting savaged this morning after jumping on his backbenchers’ bandwagon, only to be told by his new masters that his draft bill is not enough. For all the talk of parliamentary graffiti and time wasting, there is one small silver lining for the Tories; despite the short term pain there is a dividing line here. The LibDems look likely to vote against their 2010 manifesto, yet again, and Miliband is going to have to actually make a decision for once.
