Would you buy a strawberry juice or smoothie if you knew it consisted mainly of apples? Do you want to know which ‘juice’ contains additional sugar or sweeteners? How healthy is your fruity drink?

Euro MPs today decided to put in place stricter rules on the composition of fruit juices and better labelling guidelines which will substantially improve the quality of fruit juices available across the EU.

North West England Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies said after the vote:

“For many consumers with health issues such as diabetes and allergies it is vitally important to clearly state what has been put in their drinks.

“I am delighted that in the future it will be prohibited to put extra sugar in drinks labelled as fruit juice. And it will no longer be possible to market a product on the basis of only a minor ingredient if the juice is actually made up of a completely different fruit. No more apples disguised as strawberries!”

The new rules will come into force after a transition period of 18 months and will apply to all juice products regardless of whether they are produced in the EU or imported from elsewhere.

David Cameron was this morning accused of relegating Britain to the second division of Europe.

Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies claimed that by wrecking agreement between EU countries in Brussels the Prime Minister had ensured that a two speed Europe would develop.

He said: “Far from keeping Britain strong, Cameron has ensured that we will lose our influence at the top table.  By seeking to protect bankers from regulation, he has betrayed Britain’s real interests and done nothing in practice to help the City of London.

“The fear now must be that we will increasingly lose the opportunity to affect decisions being taken that are bound to affect us.

“The consequence of the xenophobic attitudes towards our European neighbours that have been allowed to develop has been to leave Britain weak.  We have shot ourselves in the foot.”

Liberal Democrats from across the North West joined to demand a moratorium on shale gas exploration at their policymaking regional conference. Regional Chair and Southport Councillor Sue McGuire, called for a halt to further drilling until the environmental impacts were better understood. Shale gas recovery involves hard to reach reserves of methane being extracted by cracking porous rocks containing the gas using the controversial hydraulic fracturing technique known as ‘fracking’. Exploration companies are investigating shale gas reserves within the Bowland Shale Basin which covers a large part of Lancashire with test wells being drilled near both Blackpool and Southport. There are serious engineering and environmental concerns about the impact of fracking on low level seismic activity and on the possible contamination of water tables by the chemicals used in the process.

Sue McGuire said “A moratorium would give the government breathing space to fully investigate the issues connected to shale gas exploration and extraction.” Sue added ” There are strong economic arguments in favour of shale gas but these must be considered alongside any possible environmental impacts. Whilst Shale gas may well fill a short term energy gap it does not, in the longer term, provide any kind of solution to the ongoing issue of climate change.”

The conference heard that lobbying in the USA some years ago exempted fracking from key health & safety regulations and undermined confidence in the ability of companies to “do it right instead of do it cheap”. Chair of policy for the Liberal Democrats in the North West, Mike Turner explained “If shale gas extraction is to take place in the UK then we must ensure that it does so under strict industry specific regulation and that this legislation is enacted before further exploration licenses are issued.”

Professor Bill Winlow, leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Lancashire County Council commented, “In the US, the estimates of the amount of gas held within the Marcella Shale formation which stretches from New York State to Pennsylvania has been slashed by 80%. This must call into question the recent announcements made here regarding the amount of the gas held within the Bowland Shale Basin. If the estimates are so far wide of the mark in the U.S it may not be worth trying to extract the gas here, particularly as no one yet knows what proportion of the gas can actually be extracted”

As MPs prepare to debate an in/out referendum on EU membership, the North West’s Lib Dem MEP is warning that Britain could be forced to adopt 300 new laws every year with no say from MPs. 

The European Commission has confirmed that Norway, which has twice voted not to join the EU, last year adopted 300 laws as the price of staying in the European Economic Area (EEA).  While British Ministers, MEPs and civil servants helped to shape these laws, Norwegians had no say whatsoever and passed them into Norwegian law without question.

There are 27 countries, including the UK, within the EU.  Another three countries, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are members of the EEA.  Together the thirty countries make up the Single Market that is supported by all three major UK political parties.

Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies said, “No serious politician wants the UK to leave the Single Market with the economic disaster that would cause.

“The truth is that pulling out of the EU would leave Britain with no say in the making of laws that we would have to obey.”

Iceland recently applied for full EU membership and Croatia is set to join next year so the MEP claims that the EU is still seen by many countries as the best trade bloc to be a member of.

“Far from making us stronger and independent, leaving the EU would leave the UK weak and at the mercy of 28 countries who would no longer have to take notice of our opinions.”

While Davies agrees with the principle of an EU referendum at the appropriate time, he says that dealing with Britain’s economic woes must be the priority for the Government right now.