I will not vote for bureaucracy

Mr Arbuthnot: in his last paragraph: “...if we left the EU neither UK ministers nor MPs would have any direct influence they now have on decisions taken in Brussels....”. Would he give us three examples of any direct influence which has resulted in any benefit whatsoever to the UK? Not unreasonable, given that we have been in the EU for over 40 years! Actually, on reflection, name even one!

Stephen Hardy is somewhat disingenuous in his letter: “...we are better able to protect the quality of Britain’s environment if we remain in Europe”. How about our fish stocks? How about the marine conservation areas created around the UK and some of our territories? How about nature conservation projects funded by donations and the Lottery Fund?

On the other hand, what effect has the EU had on the environment in some of the Eastern European countries? Very little. I will grant Stephen that the UK has received a good deal of funding for environmental improvement. So at best, I would consider the benefits of being in the EU as neutral and therefore no conclusive argument for staying in the EU.

Ms Woodward said in her penultimate paragraph: “Many of us [in Bexhill] do not like decisions about our town being made by outsiders”. I hope the ‘many’ will feel the same about the whole country being run by outsiders, and will vote to Leave the EU in the referendum in June.

Personally I will not vote for this vast self-serving bureaucracy employing some 33,000 civil servants, which has the lunatic practice of moving the whole European Parliament from Brussels to Strasbourg one week in every month at the cost to taxpayers of millions of euros every year.

And (Stephen please note) at an estimated annual environmental cost of some 20,268 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

I D Tomisson

Station Road

Crowhurst

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