European Union

It is Mr Meggs himself who appears to know little of our entry into what is now the EU. In 1972, Edward Heath said: “There is no question of eroding any national sovereignty; there is no blueprint for a federal Europe. There are some in this country who fear that in going into Europe we shall in some way sacrifice independence and sovereignty. These fears… are completely unjustified.”

In 1989, he admitted lying, saying: “The aim was, and is... ever closer political union. The means...

were and are economic”.

As for leaving the EU when the pro-EU LibLabCon are in power, Mr Meggs must be joking. The UK Independence Party can do little but raise the issues and hope for a fairer electoral system.

His description of Christianity as true totalitarianism is in fact a fair description of the EU, whereas Christianity is all about choice. Mr Meggs is free not to believe – but, unless he is advocating totalitarianism, he has no right to define the choices of others.

Thank goodness for Ben Andriessen’s sobering comments (HAS, also July 20). I, too, agree Mr Mullen asked questions that should no longer be ignored.

Dave Brothers, Treasurer, UK Independence Party, County Durham.

LIKE Ben Andriessen (HAS, July 20), I was relieved to read Peter Mullen’s home truths about the European Union (Echo, July 13).

The false perceptions about it still delude many, encouraged by political lies. For example, the EU is not simply a Brussels department of our government dealing with only a few matters of mutual interests to its members.

It is a secretive, corrupt, law-making factory, open to bribery. That is why its rulers are immune from prosecution, its Commission meetings are secret and its own auditors have never balanced its books.

The people of Europe are not part of the EU. We are just the mugs who pay for it and it is only in that sense that we can consider ourselves partners.

Certainly, some benefit more than others – namely the larger multinational companies and the French farmers. However, some wrongly believe that they depend on the EU for assistance when, in fact, their EU grants could and would have been paid otherwise, directly from a British government.

Remember, Britain does not get back in grants or trade more than we contribute. So why do our main political parties like it? Because it provides well-paid careers for some of their members.

Charlotte Bull, UK Independence Party, Darlington.

YET another “jaundiced”

anti-Christian volley from Robert Meggs (HAS, July 20) in criticising Peter Mullen (Echo, July 13).

This time it’s totalitarian Christianity. Christians are ruled by “fear” and “abject subjection”.

Come off it. Were our great British saints – Cuthbert, Aidan, Patrick and David – or even Francis of Assisi, Damian of Molokai (leper care) and Mother Teresa (orphan care) motivated by abject fear?

What of love of neighbour?

And what of those great Christian (not to mention Islamic) scientists, such as American Human Genome Project leader Francis Collins, Big Bang theorist George Lemaitre, or Newton, Boyle, Faraday and Pasteur – or even former atheist philosopher Antony Flew? Is abject fear what inspires or inspired them?

Then there are our famous battleaxes, Ann Widdecombe and Cherie Blair, or the devout but driven Fabio Capello, Cliff Richard and boxer George Foreman. Abject submissive? Hoping for a daily miracle? I doubt it, though Capello certainly could do with one.

And who would deny them their democratic human right to educate their children accordingly to their values? The State? Mr Meggs?

Mr Meggs’ endless anti-religion obsession suggests it is he who is full of fear, not people of religious faith.

Michael Baldasera, Darlington.

WHEN there was a referendum on our continued membership of the then European Economic Union I was one of a minority who voted against.

I did so because I saw it as a means by which the successful economies would put a barrier between themselves and protect their prosperity from the poorer countries of Europe.

It was, I thought, a substitute for British insularity with an insularity taking in the other advanced industrial powers of Western Europe.

Since then, I have seen that I was wrong. I have seen the benefits of membership for Greece, Spain and Portugal.

It has also struck me that whereas in the past disputes in Europe have been settled by war, now they are resolved by negotiation and bargaining.

I now speculate whether the European Union is going to be a prototype for a world government and the bonus of world peace.

Geoffrey Bulmer, Billingham.