Letter: 8 February, 2013

Holidays yes, membership no

I WAS bemused and frustrated by Cllr Juby’s latest nonsensical musings (Messenger, February 1).

The message he seems eager to portray is that the EU is a controversial institution, but Europe’s a nice place to go on holiday.

It is a nice place to go on holiday and I frequently do. In fact, only July was I in Spain, celebrating with the natives when their national team became the greatest in the world after winning the UEFA European Football Championship in Kiev.

However, that does not stop myself and thousands of others in Medway from being opposed to membership of a supranational body for democratic and economic reasons; for the £50 million the EU costs Britain on a daily basis, for the saturation of the employment market by open borders which has led to lower wages as more candidates vie for jobs, and for the sovereign powers the EU steals from nation states with every treaty and directive.

This is not simply a swipe at Cllr Juby – even if his attempted defence of membership was, frankly, absurd.

All three main parties have adopted a nanny state, government knows best attitude to the EU, denying us a referendum on membership at every opportunity.

David Cameron’s recent speech did little to allay fears of alienated Conservatives over his party’s position and is nothing short of a fudge.

No one in this country born on or after 6 June 1957 has been allowed a formal vote on membership of the EU and that is something which must change now – not in five years.

Alan Collins, Goudhurst Road, Gillingham