Let us govern ourselves out of Europe

The question arises every day in the media whether an “in-out” vote regarding Europe would be detrimental to Britain. Having read articles by several eminent members of both our main political parties, I am still no wiser. When most of the “out” articles are by ex-Chancellors or members of the Treasury team it makes you think. Even as I write, a Cabinet Minister has said he would vote to come out of Europe if there was a referendum.

So, where do we go from here?

I would certainly put my cross in the “out” box. I want a return to us being governed by legislation passed in our own Parliament, I want to see us take back full control of our own borders and be able to not only control the numbers entering our shores but be more discriminating about who or what they are.

I do not want to be part of a Federal Europe. I want us to retain our own foreign and defence policies, and I would certainly welcome back some of the vast expense which we have incurred over the years.

After the Greece and Cyprus debacles I am awaiting further upheavals in the rest of the eurozone and I thank my lucky stars every day that we were not tempted to join that game of Monopoly.

From: Trev Bromby, Sculcoates Lane, Hull.

once upon a time, in lands far, far away, some men got together and decided to join all their lands as one. They would call it the USSR. It was a disaster! Nobody lived happily ever after (except the trough dwellers, who got fatter and richer).

A lesson from history.

Once upon another time some men got together in lands not so far away...

Mr Cameron, offering a convoluted referendum to ask the plebs if they want you to renegotiate a terrible deal into a bad one, does not constitute a referendum (which you promised) that gives us the choice of yes or no to EU membership.

How gullible do you think the British people are? Oh, er, yes – they voted you in believing your pre-election promises, didn’t they? I am apolitical but can see the monopolitical big three running scared of Ukip. They may never get into office, but could realise the greater achievement of making the big three keep their pre-election promises, albeit out of fear.

From: Allan Davies, Heathfield Court, Grimsby, Lincolnshire.

THESE people who are calling for a referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU are overlooking a crucial point. MPs are elected representatives, not mandate delegates. Edmund Burke’s view has been the cornerstone of parliamentary democracy from the time of the Reform Act of 1832. MPs, he asserted, owed their constituents their judgment, nothing more and nothing less. Furthermore an MP’s oath of allegiance is to the sovereign and to no one else.

Assume the following likely situation. Mr Cameron wins the next general election with but with a small majority. In the subsequent referendum the voters opt for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. MPs (who are far better informed than their electors) vote to stay in Europe. The outcome would be a contitutional crisis. Is that what Ukip and the Eurosceptics want? Have they also forgotten that before Hitler could come to power it was first necessary to undermine confidence in the Weimar Republic?

Solution to
the A&E crisis

From: Paul Muller, Woodthorpe Gardens, Sandal, Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

Accident and Emergency Departments can no longer cope with all the patients referred to them. Waiting times in A&E have steadily increased, and patients who require admission cannot be placed in an appropriate ward because a half to a third of beds have been closed.

The solution, however, is fairly straightforward:

General practitioners should return to seeing and treating their patients again at nights and at weekends. This can be organised on a rota basis. There are 71 GP practices in the Mid-Yorkshire area, about 350 GPs for 500,000 patients – that is 1,600 patients each. Patients who need admission must be referred directly to the appropriate ward and not to A&E.

A&E should be for accidents and dire emergencies only. It is in the name.

All the closed wards in hospitals must be reopened for patients. This means the nurses and the medical staff who ran these wards must be re-employed. This can be costed by removing most of the management staff who have run the NHS into the ground.

Wake-up call over transport

From: Jeff Thomas, Strait Lane, Huby, North Yorkshire.

it is good to see there is still considerable interest in the success of the Leeds City Region (Yorkshire Post, May 6). Let’s hope the money will still appear from the coalition.

However, there is still part of the city region (namely Harrogate and Craven) that seems to be lagging behind.

I get the distinct impression that they both rely on North Yorkshire County Council to do whatever they deem to be necessary on their behalf, particularly where transport infrastructure is concerned. God help us! NYCC in my experience have never really been interested, they have “great aspirations and visions for transport” but that’s as far as it ever gets.

Harrogate and Craven, like York, need to nail their colours to the mast once and for all and focus on the Leeds City Region in their own right. Perhaps for a start they could fully join the West Yorkshire Metro Fare Scheme which at the moment is just for rail season ticket holders, as well as fully-funded bus links to Leeds/Bradford airport from “both sides of the fence”.

Come on Harrogate and Craven, stand up and be counted, let’s remove the county boundary funding issues once and for all.