Zehra Zaidi is a Conservative candidate for the European Parliament in South West England and examines here the potential impact of the EU's Working Time Directive.
As a European Parliamentary candidate, you get asked one thing from grassroots time and time again: how can we get people to relate to Europe and show how much of an impact it has and therefore, how important the European Parliament elections will be. One way is to continue to hold this Government to account and positively demonstrate how it has failed to defend British interests. There are plenty of examples – Labour’s position on the Lisbon Treaty and its failure to hold a referendum stands out.
Another is to show practical examples of how the EU impacts on our daily lives and the necessity of having a sizeable Conservative delegation in the EU to push our point of view across. Nowhere is this truer than in the case of the recent Strasbourg vote to scrap Britain’s opt-out to the Working Time Directive.
On 17 December 2008, the European Parliament voted to end Britain and 14 other countries’ opt-out three years after the reformed directive enters into force. If the Council of Ministers caves in, we may lose our partial exemption to the EU’s 48 hour maximum week and with it, the flexibility to set the hours of the British workforce - so important in an economic downturn.
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