It is time for change in EU and at home

FOR far too long, the parties in power have overpaid their representatives and continued with too generous pensions. With the present members in disarray, the time for change is now.

The way to bring this about, is to treat the general election next year as a referendum: Ukip versus the others.

There is time for the media 
to publicise this and urge the voters to turn out in numbers as in the recent vote in Scotland (or more).

This would dispose of many of the people seeking election for the old parties.

Little if anything has been done to reduce the overspending in the public sector, the EU being one of the most spendthrift, with their unaudited budgets.

Change will not happen overnight, and will take five or 10 years (for ease of reckoning) to take effect.

New pay scales (maximum and minimum) are needed and second pensions should be made a personal responsibility and phased out, so that the state pension can be increased to make life easier for all pensioners.

From: Barbara Harrison, Queensbury, Bradford.

ADRIAN Pearson (The Yorkshire Post, November 25) states that David Cameron is facing pressure to “formerly” trigger EU exit negotiations. Does that mean he should have done this in the past or should he now act “formally”?

From: Hilary Andrews, Nursery Lane, Leeds.

THE bleaters have already started on “human rights” issues before Theresa May has had a chance to present her latest anti-terrorism proposals (The Yorkshire Post, November 25).

When will these people realise that they are at risk the same as the rest of us and the Government must do all it can to prevent the UK descending into the chaos that terrorists can produce?

If we have nothing to hide, why would we be worried about our emails being scrutinised?

From: David McKenna, Hall Gardens, Rawcliffe, Goole.

WITH the EU, I have discovered over many years that endeavouring to be reasonable with unreasonable people is a non-starter and similarly, trying to convince the anti brigade of the benefits of EU membership is also not cost-effective in terms of patience and conviction.

We have been let down massively by the mainstream political parties since they 
have never seriously taken on board the benefits of membership, but have weakly gone along with the Nigel Farages of this world and blamed their own inefficiencies and failings on Brussels.

We now see a beleaguered Ed Miliband and a flailing around David Cameron trying desperately to shore up their own ranks, scared that more MPs, fearful of losing their salaries, might jump ship and join the latest bandwagon and it’s this that scares me.

Both mainstream parties will now follow the Farage trail if that means they will either keep their jobs or remain in power and in doing so follow the line of least resistance.

Churchill said that the British people “like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst”. Farage has found this quote and used it to his advantage but Churchill also said of orators like Farage: “Before they get up they don’t know what they are going to say; when they are speaking they don’t know what they are saying and when they sit down they do not know what they have said.”

Ring any bells?

From: Richard Billups, East Avenue, Rawmarsh, Rotherham.

I SEE the by-election in Rochester and Strood has gone from old Conservative to new Conservative. Ukip, the new Conservative party, relies on old Conservative donors like Paul Sykes for their brass. These two far-right parties have already prepared the public for a coalition after May’s general election (The Yorkshire Post, November 22).

The old Conservative vote is a protest vote against David (chameleon) Cameron, mainly as he is not seen as electable next May. The call for leaving the EU used by the new Conservative Ukip is their only policy but their leader seems to Tory voters as more street wise then Cameron.

What Ted Heath would make of leaving the EU, after all the work he did to get us into Europe, I don’t know. That’s the confusing Conservatives for you, pulling themselves apart all over one of their own former Prime Ministers’ decision to get us into a large trading bloc.

From: David Cook, Cottingham.

THE controversy regarding whether we should remain in the EU seems never ending.

What is not in dispute is the fact that we are, in world terms, a tiny island. Also no one can deny we are already over populated. Housing shortages exist in many parts of the country. Crowded roads are found nationwide. Train fares seem rigged to try to discourage their use. Hospitals, often totally incapable of coping with patient numbers, verify the fact that too many people already live here. With constantly rising numbers the situation can only get worse.

Of course business wants a never ending supply of cheap, efficient, hardworking labour. However there is more to life than creating wealth.

David Cameron avoids the issue by suggesting a referendum in 2017 will give people the choice. By then it might well be too late. We are supposed to live in a democracy.