Nich Brown, General Secretary of the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG), will deliver a keynote speech tomorrow to the People’s Pledge Congress in the Westminster Methodist Central Hall, London, ahead of the Parliamentary debate tabled for Monday.
Other speakers at the cross-Party event include Kate Hoey MP, David Davis MP, Zac Goldsmith MP, Mark Seddon, Bob Crow.
A full list can be seen here:
www.peoplespledge.org/docs/peoples_pledge_congress_2011.pdf
MAG is pleased that the motorcyclists’ voice will be heard at the event; an opportunity to demonstrate how the current structure of the EU is anathema to representative democracy and to illustrate the disassociation so many feel attempting to be heard when proposed legislation is to directly impact upon them.
In essence the People’s Pledge is:
The EU is now planning to give itself new wide-ranging powers in the form of yet another treaty in relation to the crisis in the eurozone. The choice concerning our relationship with the EU is now clear: either we accept being primarily and increasingly governed from Brussels or we decide to abandon membership and negotiate a new relationship with the EU based on trade and, where this makes sense, voluntary co-operation.
There are 5 key reasons why we must have a referendum on Britain and the EU:
- No one under the age of 54 has had the chance to vote on our relationship with Brussels
- The EU now makes a majority of the laws we must obey
- The UK has less than 10% of the votes in the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament
- The EU wants to give itself new powers of āeconomic governanceā
MAG’s recent day of action saw over 40,000 riders begin a simultaneous slow ride at 1pm on the 25th September across the UK’s motorway network as part of it’s campaign to highlight the Proposed EU Type Approval and Market Surveillance of 2 and 3 wheeled vehicles Regulation.
MAG is not anti-EU, as we care only about motorcycles and have no policy on issues outside of that. As we’ve made clear many times, there are some welcome aspects of this Regulation, like the removal of the 100bhp ban and the publication of CO2 figures which will enable us to continue the campaign for zero rated road tax for bikes.
We were asked to speak at the event because of how the EU legislative process has been developing into something which is becoming harder to access as citizens. A system which can so easily fail to consult or listen and appears unaccountable. A great deal of our campaigning time is now spent on battles to first gain audience, let alone discuss the issues in question.