Aid scheme for the supply of fruit and vegetables, bananas and milk in the educational establishments (A8-0006/2016)

I fully accept the benefits of providing fresh fruit, vegetables and milk for school age children and I recognise the importance of educating children about the value of healthy eating. Sourcing products locally is also a practice I welcome and one that I believe we need to continue to promote, in order to support our farmers in sectors like dairy, during difficult times.

However, from a subsidiarity perspective, I am concerned about the delivery of this project at an EU level. I believe that such schemes would be more effectively, and more efficiently, delivered within the Member States, in particular those components on educating children about eating habits.

I therefore opted to abstain at the vote on this scheme today.

Market access to port services and financial transparency of ports (A8-0023/2016)

I could not support this report - I believe that competition between ports, rather than prescriptive regulation on ports' internal operations, will be a greater driver for efficiency.

Harmonised indices of consumer prices (A8-0313/2015)

As ECR shadow rapporteur for this file, I sought to protect the UK from having to produce statistical data only relevant for Eurozone countries and also to ensure that national statistical authorities maintain control of statistical detail and development. This was successfully achieved and I was therefore able to support this agreement at today's vote.