Letters from The Northern Echo

METRIC MARTYRS

ON Monday at the High Court in London, the Metric Martyrs' Appeal was rejected with the damning statement that all EU legislation now overrules British law, upholding the judgement from Sunderland, where the judge said: "In signing the European Communities Act 1972, Parliament surrendered sovereignty to the EU."

This is the death of our democracy and Parliament has effectively been destroyed. Our own elected representatives have allowed this to happen and we must now hold them to account.

For the past 30 years, the country has been lied to by politicians of all parties as to what the European project is actually about.

The Metric Martyrs' case is about the people taking on the political elite who are acting against the wishes and needs of the people and, for the first time, the truth has been exposed.

We have reached a crossroads. We can stand up and fight to overturn this outrageous judgement by taking the case onwards to the Lords, or we can all stand back and hang our heads in shame when we tell future generations we did nothing.

The prosecution has repeatedly used costs as a weapon to deter these five men from pursuing the case any further.

Justice Laws said that the case was in the public interest and then ordered the men to pay all prosecution costs, which may amount to £100,000, when they could have been paid from central funds.

These men are quite prepared to fight and it is our duty to protect them from any financial consequence.

For the sake of the country we must not allow these men to lose. Any support will be appreciated. - Neil Herron, Metric Martyrs' Defence Fund, Sunderland.

THE Metric Martyrs have fought a brave battle and are still prepared to fight on. The principles of freedom for the ordinary citizens of this country, for which they take their stand, should be ones for which we all rise up to voice our support.

Today, it is orders from Brussels that produce must be sold in metric measurements. Tomorrow, it could be a uniformity in the way we dress, what makes of car or household appliances we must have, or where and how much money we are allowed to bank. Bit by bit, our freedoms are being sacrificed on the altar of European unity.

Our farmers and fishermen have been feeling the grinding boot of Europe on their necks for some time now. We, the ordinary people of England should stand firm and say "no further" before there is nothing distinctly English left. For example, I wonder how many English flags of St George will be seen on civic buildings and elsewhere on April 23, St George's Day? How many newsreaders and presenters on TV will wear a red rose on that day and make a point of saying why they wear it? No, that would never do; it might give offence to certain minorities if we were to say we are proud of our own country. Wake up England! - EA Moralee, Billingham.

THIS week's daft appeal decision against the Metric Martyrs, who are striving to show their independent British fighting spirit and continue to sell their goods in pounds and ounces, confirms that the British legal system is now subservient to the unelected European bully boys who will, unless strongly resisted, continue to completely take over every aspect of our everyday lives.

It is hoped that these Metric Martyrs will continue their valiant fight by appealing to the British Law Lords, and, if necessary, the European Courts. If refugees, asylum seekers and others striving to get into Britain can get British taxpayers-funded Legal Aid to fight their case, then so should these British taxpaying citizens.

They should not have to rely on public subscriptions to cover the substantial legal costs.

Great Britain, with its daft politicians and petty local authority officials, is the only country in Europe which fully embraces every European dictate and ensures strict enforcement.

Our politicians' allegiance is obviously to their European masters and not to the British populace who pay their wages.

My own ongoing "Out Of Europe" campaign shows overwhelmingly that the majority of British citizens - if given a straight choice referendum - would vote to come out of Europe.

Isn't your British heritage worth fighting for? - Coun G Stephenson, Wadworth, Doncaster.

FOLLOWING the Court of Appeal's refusal to overturn the original decision against the so-called 'Metric Martyrs', I will confidently predict a deluge of letters, swamping these HAS columns, most of them supportive of what was a criminal act.

Having lost their appeal, there will now be impassioned appeals to a gullible public, for yet more money with which to further their lost cause. I will also confidently predict, that not one letter will mention the quarter of a million or so retailers throughout the UK who accepted the metrication of weights and measures as being part of an inevitable world-wide trend and paid out a few hundred pounds (sterling) for metric scales and thus remained on the right side of the law.

True, there are a diminishing number of elderly people who will never think in metric terms, but it is also true that there is an ever increasing number of young people who are no longer being taught imperial weights and measures and who ask at the shops for goods sold by weight.

Please can we all now accept that we live in a changing world and apply our thoughts to things that matter? - A Benn, Bedale.