This is how low our nation has fallen.
White Cliffs of Dover to be sold to the French to help reduce Government's debt
By Vanessa Allen
Last updated at 7:47 PM on 07th February 2010
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For generations the White Cliffs of Dover have stood as a symbol of indomitable British pride.
But now Dover is up for sale and the leading bidder has been revealed to be an age-old enemy - France.
The Port of Dover is one of a string of publicly owned assets which have been earmarked for privatisation as the Government battles with a record £830billion of national debt.
Royal Naval vessel HMS Kent passes by the White Cliffs of Dover. The port is up for sale and the leading bidder is the owner of French port Calais
Royal Naval vessel HMS Kent passes by the White Cliffs of Dover. The port is up for sale and the leading bidder is the owner of French port Calais
Its advisers have recommended selling Dover to France as 'a very logical move', but the plan has prompted outrage.
Conservative Party prospective MP for Dover Charles Elphicke said: 'In trying to sell off our port and the White Cliffs, it's clear Gordon Brown has no sense of the history of our nation or the pride of our town.
'How dare he consider selling it all off to the French? Dover is the English border. We stood proud in defending our nation in times past.
'We are the nation's front line. The people of Dover have a clear message for him - hands off our port, hands off the English border, hands off the White Cliffs.'
A sale of the Port of Dover, Europe's busiest ferry port, could net up to £350million for the Treasury.
port
Asset: Dover port could soon be sold by the Government to help reduce the budget deficit
It would be expected to sell for around £500million, after its harbour board applied to the Transport Secretary for voluntary privatisation last month.
The sale is anticipated to be rubber-stamped and the leading bidder has emerged as Nord-pas-de-Calais regional council, which also owns the port of Calais.
The Government is being advised by merchant bank NM Rothschild, and a source at the investment bank told the News of the World: 'This is an exciting sale.
'Selling Dover to Calais is a very logical move as that is where most of the business is directed.'
The sale of Dover to France would be a bizarre reversal of fortune in Anglo-French relations.
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Broker: Gerry Grimstone, chairman of Standard Life, is advising the Government on the possible sale of Dover port
Calais was besieged by the English and captured by Edward III in 1347, and the occupation lasted for more than two centuries.
From 1536, the town sent MPs to Parliament but the French recaptured the town from the English in 1558.
The two towns are only 21 miles apart and separated by the Strait of Dover, one of the world's busiest shipping areas.
The Port of Dover, the largest British port still in the public sector, made an operating profit of £15.1million in 2008.
It is a 'trust port', meaning all revenues are reinvested into it, and it is now seeking £400million to expand, as it anticipates a doubling in freight traffic by 2040.
Chief Executive Bob Goldfield said: 'The time is right for the voluntary privatisation of Dover.
'We want to invest around £400million on a second terminal and need to invest in the existing terminal, but are unable to because of public sector borrowing constraints.
'We want to throw off the shackles to enable us to invest in the future.'
The Dover Harbour Board, which oversees the port's operation, denied it had been put under political pressure to privatise.
The port and the Channel rail link are said to be the vanguard of the Prime Minister's £16billion privatisation plans.
He wants to halve Britain's budget deficit in four years and has earmarked a series of publicly owned assets for injections of private capital.
The list also includes the Post Office, the M25 Dartford toll crossing over the Thames and the student loans book, and the Government's stake in uranium processor Urenco.
The scheme has been overseen by Standard Life chairman Gerry Grimstone, a key architect of the Thatcher Government's privatisation of firms like BT in the 1980s.
It targets £3billion from asset sales and £13billion from selling Government property.
The rest of Britain's major maritime ports were sold off in the 1991 Ports Act, but Dover was missed out because of uncertainty over its future because of the construction of the Channel Tunnel.
The privatisation plans have run into local opposition. Gwyn Prosser, the town's Labour MP, warned of a potential loss of jobs. The port's workforce has shrunk by 60 per cent over the past eight years, with 200 jobs lost last year.
Mr Prosser said: 'This is a strategic asset and we must be careful about the import of foreign capital.
'What we're concerned about is who will be the new owner. They could be foreign investors or competition from across the Channel in France.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1249194/Dover-symbol-British-sovereignty-sold-French-help-reduce-debt.html#ixzz0et1Kxb3C
3 comments:
Von Mises, Prepare for the Worst
Kosovo is Serbia
Tories complaining, yet the Tories would have sold it even faster for their NWO masters to destroy Britains self reliance and defence and to creat profit on the backs of the people.
all money goes to the NWO bankers and their royal investors.
Check out Charles pushing the global warming hoax for his own empowerment.
sickening, truly sickening.
If we haa a true free press NONE of this would have happened.
I had trouble getting my head round the enormity of the NWO conspiracy but once you are aware of it, you simply know what is coming next and where it is coming from, it is the only logical theory and it is backed up by a huge trail of facts and treason.
One last thing Lee,
See if the BNP can push attractive women as far forward in the party as possible, especially for media events then the better.
As sad as it is, nothing sells a product, including ideology like an attractive woman selling it.
The party needs to do this proactively for the general election.
Tina Wingfield is a good example as well as Donna from the south.
The other parties don't seem to have used this very effective method at all.
In short we need attractive women all over the BNP, in the leaflets, in broadcasts, ALL OVER THE WEBSITE, standing for seats.
Nothing against ugly women or men,but they simply don't sell a product half as well.
and right now we need to sell our product like never before, it also sofens our image.
This is a serious request that should be put to Nick and Mark.
so far they have missed this simple but effective propaganda method.
Cheap ferry travel is increasingly popular nowadays.cheap ferries to france discusses the advantages of ferries and the car ferry offers by famous ferry operator.
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