The beef war has dominated debate in the European Parliament in recent weeks. In an effort to highlight the suffering of British beef farmers, I led a group of ten MEPs and around 20 supporters in a protest to the heart of Paris a couple of weeks ago which almost ended in our arrest. We were confronted by the meanest looking gang of French Riot Police I have ever seen and told that we would be clapped in irons if we took another step down the Champs Elysées.

On the way back to Brussels on the train we all agreed that such a thing could never happen in the UK. Imagine our surprise, therefore, when we returned home at the weekend to see images of London policemen wrestling protesters to the ground who had dared to criticise the Chinese President Ziang Zemin! Despite furious denials from the Government that they had ordered the police to clear the streets, it has now emerged that our old friend Robin Cook - he of the ethical foreign policy - had personally demanded that the long arm of the law should be used to swipe anyone impudent enough to protest against China's impeccable human rights record!

However, that's not my only beef with the Government. Now Nick Brown has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by caving in to French demands for further investigations into the controls and regulations we have put in place to ensure British beef is the safest in the world. Despite a unanimous ruling from the independent Scientific Steering Committee stating that British beef was totally safe, Agriculture Minister Nick Brown has allowed the French to introduce more delaying tactics to avoid lifting the ban.

Worse still, I have also discovered that the French Food Agency (Agence Française de sécurité des aliments or AFSSA), which insisted on continuing the illegal French ban on British beef in the first place, has an annual budget of 52 million Euros and is in fact governed by a Board of directors, half of whom are appointed by the Government, while half are from interest groups concerned with food production, including farmers, agricultural organisations, food retailers and distributors.

We have been assured time and again by the French that their beef ban was not inspired by commercial protectionism, ring-fencing the French meat industry in direct defiance of EU law. Now we discover that the entire AFSSA agenda has been driven not by science, but by a Board comprised of government officials and farmers. It really is outrageous.

Apparently, Commissioner David Byrne, who is charge of Food Safety and Consumer Affairs, has given the French Government a final deadline of November 16th. by which time they must lift the ban or face court action. If they refuse to meet this deadline, the British Government must immediately launch a claim for major compensation against the French, not only for lost trade to France, but also for the damage this controversy has caused to our reputation world-wide. In the meantime, if France doesn't conform, Nick Brown should consider his position. He has proved to be a weak and spineless Minister. Perhaps he should retire to a cottage in Provence...I'm sure the French would welcome him!

The other big Brussels debate has been about working time directives. The socialists are so keen to have Brussels interfere in every aspect of our daily lives that they even want a Commission directive which prevents Scottish fishermen from working more than 48 hours in any given week. What a load of balloney! I just imagine a fisherman in the middle of a force 9 gale, telling his skipper that his 48 hours was up and he was going below for a rest! As with all things to do with the real world, our socialist colleagues are sadly wanting. They appear to inhabit a different planet from the rest of us, where rules and regulations are applied no matter how ridiculous or unenforceable they may be. Unfortunately, as the appalling recession in rural Scotland proves, such wanton ignorance can often cost people their livelihoods.

For updates on the beef war and other fishy stories....watch this space!