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Letter to the Editor
Nottingham Evening Post - Thursday 13th April 2006 Dear Sir, There are few sights more ridiculous than a Europhile like John Gretton trying to defend the indefensible (Letters, 12th April). He wants to convince us that the problems in the meat trade are nothing to do with Europe. But I remember visiting a small abattoir in the East Midlands where they had four inspectors watching three men work. Not just now and again, but all the time the abattoir was operating. As someone said to William Hague on the campaign trail, "If it goes on like this, Mr. Hague, we'll have one man working in Britain and all the rest watching him". The rules require so many vets to be involved that there aren't enough in the UK, so they have to bring in Spanish vets by the lorry-load, many with very poor English language skills. And pity the poor vets: years training to care for sick animals, and they end up standing round in abattoirs ticking boxes and getting bored to death. Large numbers of small abattoirs have been forced to close by the sheer weight of excessive EU regulation. But those small abattoirs were essential for small farmers and small butchers. Larger abattoirs want to deal with big farmers and big supermarkets, not little butchers' shops. So yes, Dolly Sewell was right. EU regulatory pressure on small abattoirs is a significant factor in the closure of traditional butchers, and the extra pressure on small farmers. There are consequences for animal welfare too. With far fewer abattoirs, beasts for slaughter are trucked large distances to the few remaining larger abattoirs, adding to costs and food miles, causing huge stress for the animals, and incidentally reducing the eventual quality of the meat. Thank you for nothing, Brussels. Roger Helmer Conservative MEP for Nottinghamshire |