Euroskeptic, women unite

‘Tampon’ tax

LONDON, Oct 29, (Agencies): Tampons have become the latest flashpoint in Britain’s troubled relationship with the European Union.

EU opponents have joined feminist campaigners to fight Europe’s “tampon tax” on women’s sanitary products. Campaigners say tampons should not be subject to sales tax since other products considered to be essentials are exempt, including food, children’s clothing, books and newspaCreasy

pers. Britain’s opposition Labour Party sought this week to get the government to press Brussels for an exemption. They were backed by anti-EU politicians who cited the mandatory tampon tax as an egregious example of the bloc’s interference in British life.

“We want to govern ourselves,” said Conservative Euroskeptic William Cash.

Labour lawmaker Stella Creasy argued that the levy amounted to “a tax on women.” She noted that “essential” items that are exempt from sales tax include razors, Jaffa Cake cookies and pitta bread.

Inequalities “When we start looking at what is described as a ‘necessity’ and what is a ‘luxury,’ we see the inequalities in this debate,” she said.

The proposal was defeated in Parliament by a vote of 305 to 287 Monday. But Treasury minister David Gauke said the government sympathized with its aim and promised to press EU authorities for change.

Gauke said any change to the law “would require a proposal from the European Commission and the support of all 28 member states.”

Under EU rules, all member states have to agree for a product to be exempted from goods and services tax, though individual countries can vary the rate on some items, including tampons. Since 2000, Britain has set the tax on sanitary products at the lowestpossible level of 5 percent. Many EU countries impose a tax of about 20 percent on tampons and sanitary pads.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive, said Wednesday that it is currently working on a review of the tax rules, and “one option is to give member states more leeway to set VAT rates on certain products.”

Women should hold a third of positions in Britain’s top boardrooms by 2020, former trade minister Mervyn Davies said on Thursday, increasing the target after businesses achieved his previous goal of a quarter.

Davies also expanded the target beyond the FTSE 100 to the boards of an additional 250 companies, and said businesses should be held to account for their actions on diversity and work towards increasing the number of women in high-profile roles.

Executive The report found that women now account for 26 percent of board positions in the FTSE 100, up from 12.5 percent in 2010. This was broadly in line with the percentage of female lawmakers in Britain, who hold nearly 30 percent of 650 seats in the House of Commons.

But women only account for 9.6 percent of executive roles and only five women are chief executives — at easyJet, Severn Trent, Royal Mail, Imperial Tobacco and Kingfisher.

“Now we should focus on the executive layer of companies, we should be obsessive about holding CEOs to account,” Davies told Reuters after the launch of the final report. “We should be really demanding.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron is warning compatriots who want to leave the European Union that a semi-detached relationship with the bloc might leave Britain paying just as much but having less power.

Some advocates of withdrawal say Britain would be better off like Norway, outside the EU but with a free-trade agreement.

Cameron said Wednesday that Norway still has to pay the EU and abide by its rules, but has “no seat at the table” in decision-making.