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REAP WHAT YOU SOW
Page 8
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The British agricultural industry is well known for its active lobbying, galvanising the community into action to get results. What if the transport sector did the same?
Have you ever wondered what your MP does for you? I have no doubt what mine does. He spends my hard-earned wages on a nice office, a nice secretary and gets a very decent salary. Some not all deserve the money that our taxes are siphoned off for, but there appears to be a large body of politicians out there who do nothing for this industry. Compare and contrast this with farming: the first hint of a cut in handouts from Brussels and the farmers are battering down their MPs' doors, arguing that theirs is an essential industry that deserves all the money it gets. Granted, it may not be prof itable in the 21st century, thanks in part to the huge buying power wielded by a number of large retailers who drive their prices ever downwards. But agriculture is still, they say, essential to the social and economic fabric of this country.
Faced with this wave of fury, MPs do the only sensible thing and fight the farmers' corner. And fair play to the farming lobby it has influence and isn't afraid to use it. You can question whether in the free(ish) marketplace they deserve to survive if they can't turn a profit. Yet the farming folk argue that theirs is a traditional industry which needs government help to keep it viable and to preserve the industry.
Now substitute 'farmers' with 'hauliers' and does the argument still ring true? Of course it does. It's an industry that acts as the glue holding this country together, it provides employment and is generally essential to the UK's wellbeing (and is also being shafted by a few familiar faceshello again, OUF supermarket friends), But since when did you ever see or hear a politician foaming at the mouth, saying that the haulage industry needed more help? Not once as far as I can remember, other than when it suits the self-serving blighters to do so in order to make political capital. We play a vital role and unless politicians, of whatever party, are willing to treat us with the respect we deserve, they are not worthy of our support. So write to your MP, ask what they're doing to help you and if you don't like the answer, you know what to do in 18 months' time. They work for you, remember not the other way round.