Struggling to vote

[Sheepy]

And you're back.....did you find little bo peep on your travels?  :hattip

In my mobile nuclear bunker you mean,no apparently she is busy looking for her lost black sheep.

[patman post]

As a businessman, Lord Heseltine is entitled to all the grants and subsidies available to others. Being a farmer gives him an insight into the activity and could even inform his views...



Analysing more than 175,000 individual payments made to farmers in the UK last year, BBC News has found:

• Farmers and landowners received £3.5bn in individual payments from CAP, an increase from £2.8bn in 2016

• Farmers in the East of England and Scotland received the highest individual subsidies, typically worth more than £14,000 each

• Scotland is the part of the UK that receives the largest amount of overall CAP funding, worth £630m last year

• Natural England, a government organisation, was the biggest recipient of an individual subsidy last year, receiving £15m

In plans set out by the environment secretary Michael Gove last year, the UK government said it would guarantee current funding levels for farmers up until 2022.



Farmers and landowners would then receive payments for "public goods", such as maintaining access to the countryside and planting meadows.



A report published last month by the National Audit Office (NAO) said 42% of UK farmers would have made a loss between 2014 and 2017 without direct payments from the EU.[/i]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-48880939">https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-48880939

[cromwell]

Of course not,no politician only thinks of themselves ever.In fact they have done such a good job,people now question their own sanity if they vote for any one of them.

And you're back.....did you find little bo peep on your travels?  :hattip

[Sheepy]

No £90k isn't peanuts, but it's a lot less than (for example) James Dyson or Dominic Cummings' family.



Also, the farm subsidy system is what it is.



Over 150,000 farmers of various sizes from tiny 10ha smallholders to huge agri businesses get them.



£90k is towards the upper end but there are still over 5,000 farmers who get more, some get millions.



In a world where ex-ministers make 5 figures per hour for after dinner speaking and "non-exec" directorships requiring a.few boozy lunches a year, I seriously doubt a mere £90k would be enough to affect their judgement.



Do you really think Heseltine is thinking "crikey! If brexit happens I might be out of pocket for my farm subsidies! Even though I think it's a great idea, I'll agitate against it and even advocate voting against the party I have worked for my entire life just for those farm subsidies....."

Of course not,no politician only thinks of themselves ever.In fact they have done such a good job,people now question their own sanity if they vote for any one of them.

[BeElBeeBub]

£90,000 a year, it's not actually peanuts, is it?



https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/958161/lord-heseltine-duke-of-wellington-brexit-blocker-90000-pounds-EU-land-subsidies">//https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/958161/lord-heseltine-duke-of-wellington-brexit-blocker-90000-pounds-EU-land-subsidies

A Freedom of Information request shows Lord Heseltine appeared to have received a series of EU farming subsidies since 2000 averaging £90,000 a year.

In a world where ex-ministers make 5 figures per hour for after dinner speaking and "non-exec" directorships requiring a.few boozy lunches a year, I seriously doubt a mere £90k would be enough to affect their judgement.



£90k is towards the upper end but there are still over 5,000 farmers who get more, some get millions.



Do you really think Heseltine is thinking "crikey! If brexit happens I might be out of pocket for my farm subsidies! Even though I think it's a great idea, I'll agitate against it and even advocate voting against the party I have worked for my entire life just for those farm subsidies....."



If a mere £90k sways a politician, what about the hundreds of thousands that Johnson (or Gove) earns from newspapers? How about the millions that JRM has invested in Russian entities?  Or the £200k donations to the Tory party from Russian oligarchs?



Edit: as a quick check, Heseltine served as an MP for about 40 years which means his MP's pension will be near the maximum. I believe that puts it in the £90k region given he was a minister.

[papasmurf]

£90,000 a year, it's not actually peanuts, is it?



https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/958161/lord-heseltine-duke-of-wellington-brexit-blocker-90000-pounds-EU-land-subsidies">//https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/958161/lord-heseltine-duke-of-wellington-brexit-blocker-90000-pounds-EU-land-subsidies

A Freedom of Information request shows Lord Heseltine appeared to have received a series of EU farming subsidies since 2000 averaging £90,000 a year.

That does not go directly into his wallet, something the Express does not bother to mention. ( In any case with it still looking as if a crash out Brexit has only been delayed by a year if Boris wins, the effect on British farming will be disastrous.)

[Barry]

So, why is a Tory party "big beast" in the pocket of the EU/riding the gravy train?



The most i could find is that he's in receipt of farming subsidies.

£90,000 a year, it's not actually peanuts, is it?



https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/958161/lord-heseltine-duke-of-wellington-brexit-blocker-90000-pounds-EU-land-subsidies">//https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/958161/lord-heseltine-duke-of-wellington-brexit-blocker-90000-pounds-EU-land-subsidies

A Freedom of Information request shows Lord Heseltine appeared to have received a series of EU farming subsidies since 2000 averaging £90,000 a year.

When asked in 2011 about the subsidies he was receiving, Lord Heseltine said: "This is the whole basis of the European agricultural system. Without the agricultural support system, you would drive farming out of existence. The fact that I am a wealthy man is quite irrelevant."

[BeElBeeBub]

And if he wasnt sitting in the European gravy train's first class buffet car, I might actually believe him.

I'm not sure what you mean by that?



This is another common brexiter deflection.



Anyone who stands up against brexit is attacked with gauge "it's only because they are on the EU gravy train/in the EU pocket etc". Normally with, at best, tenuous evidence but usually with none or even worse, fabricated evidence.



So, why is a Tory party "big beast" in the pocket of the EU/riding the gravy train?



The most i could find is that he's in receipt of farming subsidies.

[Churchill]

Where I live its a fairly safe Tory seat, as there is a large Jewish Community I think it will stay that way I do hope so

[papasmurf]

Vote lib dem then.

Where I live voting tactically to keep a Tory out means voting Lib-Dem anyway.

[Barry]

Waffle on? I hate Tories but what you call waffle is the best speech I have heard in my lifetime.

Vote lib dem then.

[papasmurf]

I'll cut to the chase. It takes Heseltine 4 minutes to waffle on

Waffle on? I hate Tories but what you call waffle is the best speech I have heard in my lifetime.

[Barry]

Care to explain that please?

I'll cut to the chase. It takes Heseltine 4 minutes to waffle on about recommending a vote for "disenfranchised Conservatives and Lib Dems" like Soubry, and this with the objective of creating a coalition for remain and a second referendum.

Good luck with that, those people ruined the last parliament.

[papasmurf]

And if he wasnt sitting in the European gravy train's first class buffet car, I might actually believe him.

Care to explain that please?

[johnofgwent]

This may help you decide. (if the link works.)



<iframe src="http://cdn.jwplayer.com/players/J3z2HBHq-4Sd9EWyh.html">http://cdn.jwplayer.com/players/J3z2HBHq-4Sd9EWyh.html" width="480" height="270" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto"></iframe>

If you were trying to highlight heseltine urging you not to vote tory ...



It works...



And if he wasnt sitting in the European gravy train's first class buffet car, I might actually believe him.