Corbett challenges Sykes to debate on EU
Yorkshire and Humber MEP Richard Corbett has challenged multimillionaire Paul Sykes to a public debate on the UK's relationship with the European Union, after the property developer revealed he will launch a £10million Eurosceptic campaign on Monday.
Sykes, who has previously funded the United Kingdom Independence Party, says his speakout campaign, which intends to target every household in Britain, will be an "outbreak of truth", a claim which Richard strongly contests.
Richard said: "With the amount of money Mr Sykes has thrown at this project I would have expected him to have spent at least some of his budget on research in order to enable him to present his argument factually. However, the advert I have seen is riddled with inaccuracies, errors and is largely typical Eurosceptic conjecture. I hardly see how this amounts to an outbreak of truth."
"The issue of Europe does deserve greater prominence in the UK but it is important the public is informed fairly and correctly and not with myth and nonsense."
"This is why I have challenged Mr Sykes to take part in a debate with me on the UK's relationship with the European Union. The public deserve to be presented with both sides of the discussion and left to make up their own minds rather than being sent biased propaganda which gives pro-Europeans no opportunity for recourse."
Notes for Editors:
The speakout advertisement quoted in the Daily Telegraph on October 9th (available to read at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/10/09/ntory109.xml ) included the following: "They have given away powers that were not theirs to give. More than half our laws - some people say as much as 80 per cent - originate not in the debating chambers of our elected Parliament but behind closed doors in Brussels."
- The House of Commons library actually confirms that nine per cent of UK law originates from the European Union.
- Legislation from "Brussels" is in fact adopted by ministers from elected national governments in the Council and elected MEPs in the Parliament.
- The European Parliament has always met in public and the Council does too now.
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