03/06/04

I feel emboldened to write as a member of the European Movement, which is multi-party in its composition, but fully endorses your view that citizens should exercise their democratic rights in this way.

My local colleagues in the European Movement are properly engaged in the campaigns of their parties. As an ex-diplomat, with no party affiliations, I respect their intentions.

Apart from the present uncertainties, which the postal voting may present, I recognise the importance of the vote itself.

Though I shall not survive to see the longer-term future of the European Union, I am convinced that our destiny lies within Europe itself. I acknowledge the present realities and the myths and misunderstandings about the Union, and the inevitable global context.

I look forward to a Europe with a common purpose and confident in itself. A European Movement, that avoids insularity and thinks of future generations can, in its approach to problems, make an important contribution to world peace. - J Bourne, Darlington.

I RECEIVED my European voting papers. I was pleasantly surprised to find how easy it was to fill them in.

I have done it and sent them back so that I don't forget. Whether they get into the vote is now up to the post, but with any luck they should.

I implore all those who are in any way worried by the new-fangled way to vote to have a go. Let's have a really good turnout and give Tony Blair a good kick up the backside. - JD Trotter, Richmond.

THE fact that the politics that govern our everyday lives are not readily apparent to us, causes choice to be a problem at election times.

Frequently people ask: "What do our MPs do for their money?" This highlights the problem that MPs have in finding forums to engage with the public in meaningful ways.

The media reports and makes comments on what politicians say, but often not in a way that deals with issues in a rounded, balanced way. Faced with the lack of forums to enter into debates that enable depth of understanding and refinement to take place, they fall back to soundbite politics. It is all too easy to concentrate on the negatives using this approach.

People frequently say that the French and Germans do just what they want in Europe when we follow the rules. To say this misses the point that the job of politicians is represent national interest in the European Parliament and to come to working arrangements that all countries can adopt when it is important that we all work together.

It would be a miracle if any of the agreements were perfect, for the simple fact that no human being is perfect.

For the framework to be denigrated and dismissed in a sentence really does our politicians an injustice when, in fact, they put in hours of work researching, sharing information and developing the understanding that leads to improvements in all our lives.

To be fair to them and to ourselves, we need to ensure the continuation of democracy by exercising our right to vote in the European Parliamentary elections. - Bill Morehead, Darlington.

THE EU is already responsible for 70 per cent of our laws. Nevertheless, Labour and Conservative wish us to vote mainly on past prejudice against each other.

The Liberals, whom one would expect to be eager to counter arguments in answer to the growing EU disillusionment, wish instead to make vote gains from Iraq.

Surely only a significant dissolution of the sovereign powers of the British people could cause 12 members of the House of Lords, including Labour and Conservative, to break with past allegiances, and, without precedence, plead for your votes for the UK Independence Party.

Apparent public apathy is an excess of trust allied to a lack of information on the structure and working of the EU government.

The EU is not answerable to us. It gives us nothing but our own money and has harmed us a great deal. No MEP can present promises, only offer to 'lobby for' or 'work towards'. When has greater subservience ever been the key to power? There is no 'Heart of Europe'.

This is not the time to vote out of habit. Must we be patronised like children, kept in ignorance and misled? We deserve better, as do our future generations. - Charlotte Bull, Candidate for the UK Independence Party, North-East.

MUCH has been made about ballot papers for the European Parliament not being sent out in time or to the wrong address. Nothing has been said about the content of the ballot papers.

In the North-East region we are being asked to vote for a political party and are being denied a choice of candidates. There are seven political parties listed on the ballot paper with the names of that party's three candidates. The elector is asked to put a cross against a political party and therefore for the party's three candidates. It is not possible to choose between the three.

There may be reasons why an elector might want to give support to one or two of the party candidates, but not support the third.

Geography would be a valid reason in this region. A Teesside Labour supporter might want to see at least one MEP from Teesside but all of the Labour Party's three candidates are from the Tyneside area. - Bert Ward, Middlesbrough.

BANK HOLIDAYS

IS it me, or do other people also hate Bank Holidays? Everyone goes whizzing to the Dales or equivalent, crowding the roads, cafs, parking spaces, trying to get away from it all, only to come face-to-face with scores of people doing the same thing.

Is this enjoying time off work I wonder?

Surely it would be much better to give people time off to be taken at their discretion, not all at the same time. - FM Atkinson, Durham.

INDUSTRY

HOW many more jobs will be lost, especially in the North-East, before firms take a stand and put the welfare of our own people, here in Britain, ahead of profit?

Why should our hardworking men and women be made redundant, while work goes abroad, only because wages are much lower in those countries. It is a very short-sighted strategy on the part of the companies involved.

Trusting a home-grown, local workforce is far better than becoming totally reliant on foreign labour. With the world situation changing daily, who knows whether that cheap, foreign labour will be available in the months and years ahead.

This haemorrhage of jobs needs to be stopped quickly before our nation is bled dry by China, India, etc. Time to put Britain first again for the sake of our future. We need to maintain the skills and the manufacturing industries here or they will be lost forever. We will not remain one of the leading and richest countries in the world for long unless we employ and care for our own people in preference to people overseas. Help them, yes, but don't slit our own throats in order that they may drink our lifeblood. - EA Moralee, Billingham.