EU grants for green groups push up your energy bills: Families fund lobbyists whose campaigns lead to higher taxes

Daily Mail
"British families are unknowingly providing millions of pounds to green lobbyists who campaign for higher taxes on energy bills. Since 1997, £86 million has been handed to climate change and environmental groups by the EU, according to the Taxpayers’ Alliance. It claims Britain’s share of funding for organisations including Friends of the Earth, WWF, and Climate Action Network stands at £8.6 million during that period. The TPA says many of these taxpayer-funded lobbyists campaign for new regulations that could lead to higher household energy bills. The report found that 25 European-based groups have received in excess of 1m euros (£860,000) of public funds in a 15-year period. Matthew Sinclair, Director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said the handouts result in families paying twice - once for the grants and again in higher energy bills. ‘Many of the environmentalist groups funded with European Commission grants do not appear to be the sort to get their hands dirty looking after endangered plants and animals,’ he said. ‘Instead the bureaucrats in Brussels are spending our money to fund their own lobbyists, to create artificial pressure for ever more onerous regulations that hurt British business and add to families’ bills."