The Netherlands suggested reducing the threshold to 100g in 2003 to 50g in 2005 accompanied by the full liberalisation of direct mail then a

The Netherlands suggested reducing the threshold to 100g in 2003, to 50g in 2005 (accompanied by the full liberalisation of direct mail), then a complete free market in 2008.The Royal Mail fears that opening the market would reduce profitability and, therefore, threaten the survival of rural postal services. It has even claimed up to 50,000 jobs would be at stake.But Fritz Bolkestein, the European commissioner for the internal market, said: “Long-term employment in the sector can only be safeguarded if the sector is able to provide competitive services, responsive to the demand of both business customers and households.”* Britain was threatened with fines of more than 106,000 euros (£66,000) a day for failing to clean up sea water off resorts in the North-west despite repeated warnings. The Commission said it would ask the European Court of Justice to impose fines to be levied each day until bathing water standards improved.. Since he became Labour’s leader, Tony Blair has had just one target in his sights: the Conservative party. Since he became Labour’s leader, Tony Blair has had just one target in his sights: the Conservative party.
It was only the Tories who threatened his ability to acquire and retain power. To beat them he rebranded his party “New Labour”, accepting such traditionally Tory nostrums as promoting the private sector and being tough on crime.But there were always risks in Mr Blair’s devotion to the concerns of middle England In Scotland, voters might switch to the nationalists. Throughout Britain, traditional Labour voters might look for a new alternative on the left, or indeed simply stay at home.Yesterday’s Falkirk West by-election confirmed that Mr Blair’s principal target remains forlorn The Tories’ share of the vote fell by four points.

Of course, no one expected the Conservatives to win, but any opposition that hopes to pose a serious threat at the next general election should be securing significant increases in support in by-elections in hostile territory as well as on friendly terrain. But in this Parliament, the Tories have not done well in either case.The Falkirk West result can only encourage the whispering campaign against Mr Hague, which started in the wake of the Conservatives’ disappointing performances in three by-elections last month.Such whispering only serves to hinder the party’s attempts to persuade voters to return to the Tory fold. Yet in spite of the poor Conservative result, Labour’s share of the vote fell by 16 points. It was the third- worst Labour by-election result in this Parliament. Rather than the Tories, it was the hidden risks in New Labour’s strategy that nearly cost the party its seat in Falkirk West.The threat of nationalism was meant to be eradicated by devolution. And after the SNP recorded their most disappointing result in a Labour seat in 18 years last month in Glasgow Anniesland, it seemed as though that might finally be happening.

But on Thursday the nationalist by-election bandwagon rolled once more, the SNP vote rising 16 points.Two of the three biggest drops in Labour’s vote in by-elections in this Parliament have occurred in Scottish constituencies, and there must be some concern that Labour may have a tougher fight on its hands at the next election in Scotland than it will in England.In holding the Falkirk West by-election just four days before Christmas, Labour suggested that the dangers of apathy were not pressing too heavily on ministers’ minds.It was as if the message they took from last month’s by-elections was that the party could do well, even if turnout was low. At 36 per cent, the Falkirk West turnout set a new record low for a Scottish by-election, and it was accompanied by a result that did nothing to dispel the idea that some Labour voters’ enthusiasm for Labour inaction is still limited.Meanwhile, of the three threats, the least important appeared to be socialism. To what credible alternative could disenchanted Labour voters conceivably turn? Now, it seems, there is an answer. In Falkirk West the Scottish Socialist Party saved its deposit; in itself not a remarkable event, but what is notable is that this is the fifth by-election in a row in which a candidate standing under a socialist label has passed the 5 per cent threshold. It is easily the best record for the far left in postwar Britain.Maybe Mr Blair should remember that one of the reasons for Mr Gore’s defeat was the seepage of votes to Mr Nader.John Curtice is Deputy Director, ESRC Centre for Research into Elections and Social Trends.. Controversy over the way allegations of “sleaze” by MPs are investigated erupted yesterday after a cabinet minister was cleared of misusing taxpayers’ money on party political activity. Controversy over the way allegations of “sleaze” by MPs are investigated erupted yesterday after a cabinet minister was cleared of misusing taxpayers’ money on party political activity.
John Reid, the Secretary of State for Scotland, escaped punishment by the Standards and Privileges Committee even though Elizabeth Filkin, Parliament’s independent anti-sleaze watchdog, upheld a complaint against him.The committee, which exercised its power to reject Mrs Filkin’s recommendations, decided to apply a different burden of proof over allegations that Mr Reid and John Maxton, another Labour MP, employed three Commons researchers from public funds knowing that they would work part of the time for the Scottish Labour Party.

The two politicians had emphatically denied the claims.The Labour-dominated committee agreed unanimously that such serious allegations should have to be “significantly more likely to be true than not to be true before we could properly uphold them”. In her inquiry, Mrs Filkin ruled on the “balance of probabilities”.The affair highlighted criticism from some MPs over Mrs Filkin’s performance as the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner. She was also overruled by MPs when she investigated Peter Mandelson over his £373,000 home loan, and John Prescott over a flat provided by the RMT union.James Goudie QC, Mr Reid’s legal adviser, accused Mrs Filkin of making a series of attempts to “smear” the Scottish Secretary One minister said yesterday: “She is overstepping the mark. The House wanted an independent watchdog, not a Witchfinder General.”Mr Maxton, who was cleared with Mr Reid, said he would now officially complain at her handling of the inquiry “particularly over the way material was leaked and how certain aspects of her work was done”.But the criticism of Mrs Filkin was rejected by the Standards and Privileges Committee as an “unwarranted attack” on her integrity by Mr Goudie and said her inquiry was “properly conducted and met appropriate standards of care, fairness and competence”.Yesterday, Mrs Filkin said she stood by “every word” of her report, adding that “people can draw their own conclusions”. Mrs Filkin concluded there was an arrangement under which Commons funds were used to supplement the party salaries of the researchers, Kevin Reid – Mr Reid’s son – and Chris Winslow, and to pay Suzanne Hilliard for some work for the party.Mrs Filkin accused Mr Reid of trying to frustrate her investigation by agreeing a common line with Alex Rowley, former general secretary of the Scottish Labour Party, “which falls short of a full and comprehensive account”..