Has Gordon Brown been outmanoeuvred again?
It has been revealed that Gordon Brown is working with his "archenemy" Nicolas Sarkozy to create a climate change fund of around £7 billion, funded by EU members. However, it has been revealed that the UK will be by far and away the largest contributor to the climate change fund despite the fact that other economies are performing better than the UK at the moment. So why is the UK yet again being left to pay more than its fair share?
This is a problem which has dogged the UK since joining the EU, with previous government also falling into the trap of being forced to invest significant amounts of UK taxpayer's money in areas such as farming, many of which assist other EU members more than the UK. Quite how the UK would appear to be contributing more to the £7 billion climate change fund than the likes of France and Germany is a mystery although many believe that Gordon Brown has yet again been "led up the garden path" by Nicolas Sarkozy.
UK taxpayers are paying a heavy price for Gordon Brown's insistence that the UK is at the forefront of many new EU policies and EU financial programs in the short term. Whether this is the right move in the longer term is a point which many UK voters may decide upon at the next general election, but the truth is, the UK government can find money for EU policies and EU financial schemes but does not appear to be as willing to step forward for traditional UK businesses.
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