Britain 'is not an island' claims EU
Richard Savill

Daily Telegraph - 23/01/2003

European Commission statisticians have decided that Britain is not an island. They say an island can not have fewer than 50 permanent residents, can not be attached to the mainland by a rigid structure, can not be less than a kilometre from a mainland and, crucially in the case of Britain, can not be home to the capital of an EU state.

Their study has raised fears that Anglesey and Skye, which are linked by bridges, and Lundy, which has a population of 18, could lose their island status.

Paul Roberts, Lundy's general manager, said: "It's an absolute nonsense to say we are not an island. "Lundy means 'Puffin Island' in Norse and nothing can take that away from us."

Caroline Jackson, a Tory MEP for the South-West, said: "There is no smoke without fire. If there is anything in this, it may be that the Commission is trying to cut down on expenditure ahead of enlargement, by cutting back on the priorities island communities are sometimes given.

"The suggestion that an island is not an island because it is too small or has a fixed link to the mainland seems to be eccentric."

The European Commission said last night that the Union did not use physical geography as a criterion for regional aid. It said a definition of islands was used in a technical study by statisticians "looking at the economic situation of the islands of Europe".