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on 0181 652 8969. Alternatively you can e-mail us on Miles.Brignall(gfrbi.co.uk.
GOVERNMENT BETRAYAL
Your editorial column of 6 May and the forthright opinions of Darren Leigh and Michael Dodds are perfectly understandable. As they struggle to survive in a hostile market, they feel let down by a Government they perhaps supported and put in power. The politicians "business" is power, and the misuse of power...corrupts.
The Government has looked at continental costs of running a business, which itjudges to be higher than in the UK. By the misuse of its tax-raising powers it has decided to squeeze more revenue from the whole domestic market. Make no mistake: the Government does not care who moves the goods around the country—indeed, it would probably welcome the foreigner if he did the work more cheaply.
If a few thousand lorries are put off the road it will regard it as a feather in its cap, pleasing the "environmentalists".
In the late 1950s British shipowners pleaded with the Government to heed the growth of the Panamanian, Honduran and Liberian flags that threatened the wellbeing of the UK fleet. Their pleas were ignored, and today the British mercantile fleet is minuscule, and still declining.
So what is to be done?! believe the only answer is to fight them on their own ground. Make every MP aware of the damage that is being done to the industry and the rules which favour the foreign operator. Ask them point blank: are they pro-British or pro-Europe? Make them feel uncomfortable with their broken promises of "no tax increases". As you say, it will be a long hard road, but keep smiling, Darren—you have youth on your side!
HR Pooloy, Ledbury, Herefordshire.