On Thursday 1st March, 7.30pm at the Harrogate Friends Meeting House, there will be the launch of a new report about the secretive US base just to the North of Bradford. 'Lifting the lid on Menwith Hill' is a compelling read, and we have reason to thank its author Dr Steve Schofield.
The main thrust of the report is a withering rebuttal of the idea that the base brings in significant money into the region. In fact, the top secret base brings in very little, and as it turns out, actually costs the UK taxpayer.
One of the more surprising findings was that all the US personnel live tax free, whilst benefiting from state schools and hospitals. Tens of millions are lost to contractors and workers in what is effectively a little tax haven on the Yorkshire Moors. The economic case for the base is carefully deconstructed by Dr Schofield, but it is not just the cost to the British government that is under scrutiny.
Menwith Hill is an illegal site, performing military and industrial espionage for the US government. It is totally undemocratic and the British Government has no oversight of the project at all. It is simply part of the US empires deep penetration of the global arena to help further its own ends.
Menwith Hill has got to close, and this report highlights that this could well be a benefit to the region's economy, as well as curtailing the ability of US industry to gain competitive advantage over British and other European companies. The British Government is crazy to diminish its own sovereignty by allowing its citizens and businesses to be spyed on from within our own borders.
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