Nothing works up the British blood more than being done over by that lot across the channel.

The island nation Britain has never really been comfortable with its close European neighbours; there has just been too much bad blood with France, Germany and Spain over the centuries.

We don’t like how the French call us ‘rosbeefs’, how the German’s hog the sun loungers and how the Spanish insist we eat paella rather than chips, egg and beans.

And we don’t like that thing called the euro, despite its doing better than the good old British pound.

Even now when the subject of Germany crops up in pubs, it still centres on the performance of the Spitfire, the inventor Barnes Wallace and how their national team have to rely on penalties to get them through against the heroic English boys.

All this despite the fact that the European Community controls much of the destiny of the U.K. On one level xenophobia might still be the big thing; on another, the U.K. is a cornerstone of Europe and heavily influenced by events there.

So when the U.K newspapers publish stories about how those rascals across the water are charging us more for our energy than their own countries, we get all worked up.

Whether that’s true or not, and more on that in a minute, it slightly misses the point that during the boom period, to which most of the U.K citizenship benefited, many traditional British companies were sold overseas. Some of our biggest names are no longer owned by nice bowler-hatted gentlemen from the home counties who play cricket on Sunday and drink tea with their little fingers in the air. No, they are now owned by pan-European shareholders, run by executives with names we just can’t pronounce and who are determined to be successful.

U.K. plc has had one of its biggest sales and there’s not much left on the corporate shelves. And it’s a little late to start complaining now.

But back to the xenophobia. When our tabloid newspapers scream that the energy companies, mostly owned by those old enemies across the channel, are ‘screwing’ us at the expense of their own countries, then it gets attention. Energy inflation in the U.K was over 12% last year, or so say the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). Yet in Germany it was actually minus 0.8%, France a minus 6.5% and Spain a minus 7.2%.

So, the tabloids highlight those figures, talk about good old British Gas – still an old blighty firm – has made a ten per cent cut in their prices, then add in that there has been no such action from German owned nPower and E.on, nor from French owned EDF, or Spanish owned Scottish Power, and there you have it, they’re killing us.

But, of course, it’s just not that simple.

What would be more helpful from the OECD is not just inflation figures, but a comparison with actual energy costs for all European states. The energy companies claim that the U.K. started from a very low base, that for years we have benefited from low energy costs, but now, there is inevitable catch-up as globally energy becomes more expensive. And still, say The Energy Retail Association, the U.K. has the most competitive energy prices in the world.

So, if they are ‘screwing’ us at the expense of others, in one way we needn’t be surprised, but before we go around saying it, we should make sure we’ve got our facts right.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

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