David Craig

I am the author of the recent book The Great European Rip-Off (Random House March 2009). This exposes how a wasteful, corrupt and undemocratic European Union is taking ever more control of its citizens' lives. My previous books include Squandered: How Gordon Brown is wasting over one trillion pounds of our money (Constable 2008) and Plundering the Public Sector (Constable 2006). In addition to writing for other publishers, I also run my own small publishing company which has published Who cares? by Amanda Steane - a book revealing the poor state of patient care in today's NHS.

Before becoming a full-time writer, I worked for twenty years as a management consultant in fifteen countries in Europe, America and Asia. I have also written two management textbooks.

I am standing as a Libertas candidate because I strongly believe the EU needs urgent and thorough reform. Before I wrote The Great European Rip-Off, I knew very little about what went on in the EU and didn't really care. However, while working in Brussels researching and writing my book I was stunned by the way the EU bureaucracy works - how much money it wastes, the greed of European politicians, the bureaucratic incompetence, the widespread and uncontrolled corruption and the total arrogant disregard for the opinions of ordinary European voters.

The bureaucrats and politicians in the Brussels bubble lead such well-paid, insulated lives that they don't listen to what the people they are supposed to represent want. We have to make them listen and the only way to do that is to encourage people to go out and vote Libertas.