London Evening Standard, 19th April 2007

High cost of a green light from Europe

Neil Collins 

HOW many Eurocrats does it take to change a lightbulb? A qualified majority, each member of which has been allowed its own little pork-barrel in return.

Until then, there will be a tariff of 66% on the new, energy-saving bulb which comes from the Far East, which is why they cost 10 times as much as those nice old incandescent ones. Scrap the charge and VAT, says Open Europe, the free-market pressure group, and they'd cost around 66p. At that price, we might even be prepared to live in their Stygian gloom as our contribution to saving the planet.

Of course our Government, which wants to outlaw old lightbulbs, is powerless to act. The EU sets the tariff a type of tax which looks like aremnant of a lost world.

A report from think tank Global Vision concludes that Britain would be better off scrapping all import duties, since they cost more to collect than we get in revenue. The move would mean lower prices and lower taxes, but we can't do it.

Want to guess why not? ..