Referendum campaign’s myth making

From: William Wallace (Lord Wallace of Saltaire), House of Lords, London.

THE accusation from Arthur Quarmby (Yorkshire Post. August 16), a former UKIP election candidate, that Edward Heath “lied” to the British people about the nature of the European commitment has now become an established myth for the In-Out Referendum campaign. But the historical record shows that we were all told that joining the EEC (as it then was) meant sharing aspects of UK sovereignty with our neighbours.

Heath had spelt this out before he became Prime Minister, in a series of lectures in the United States which were well reported in the British Press. He noted that Britain depended on the US for crucial aspects of its “independence” (including our nuclear deterrent), and argued that closer cooperation with France and Germany was a more constructive contribution to transatlantic partnership than bilateral British dependence.

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The Parliamentary debate on accession also spelt out the implications of membership; Lord Home’s second reading speech, as foreign secretary, was particularly explicit. Both sides in the 1975 referendum campaign then addressed this central issue; I took an active part in that campaign myself.

We are witnessing many limits to UK sovereignty at present. The biggest software company in the country looks likely to follow Cadbury, Rowntree, and other major British firms into US ownership. More and more of our major football clubs are falling under foreign ownership: American, Russian, Malaysian, or Middle Eastern. The British motor industry is now entirely under foreign control; Jaguar, for example, is going through a revival under Indian ownership.

Competition from Chinese state companies has undermined domestic manufacturing.

Our financial sector has moved in the past 15 years from focusing on investment in the domestic economy to speculation in international markets.

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All of these developments limit our national autonomy. None of them relate to Britain’s membership of the EU. If the UK left the EU, we would continue to be dependent on these global pressures, and would lack the bargaining power in global negotiations that we gain through the EU. Edward Heath and his government did spell the awkward choices out, 40 years ago.

UKIP and the Better Off Out campaign prefer to refight the Second World War, when the threats to Britain’s future autonomy and prosperity today come not from Germany or France but from countries much further away.

Time to get off our high horse

From: David T Craggs, Tunstall, East Yorkshire.

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with the views expressed by George Appleby in his letter (Yorkshire Post, August 12).

For some years now this country has taken the high ground, telling the people of other countries how they should conduct their lives. We did it in Iraq and Egypt and are now doing it in Afghanistan, Libya and Syria.

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But in order to have any sort of credibility your own country has to have a code of behaviour that is beyond reproach.

Sadly the last few weeks have shown us just how fragile our society is.

Perhaps it would be a good idea for this country to let the people of other nations get on with their lives and solve their own problems and concentrate on the problems that obviously exist at home.

One can well imagine that some of our so-called enemies abroad had a wry smile when they saw on their television sets parts of our capital going up in flames.

Take time on sentencing

From: John Bolton, Gregory Springs Mount, Mirfield.

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I HAVE to wonder if anyone quietly tried to point out to David Cameron the inevitable consequences of the knee-jerk, indiscriminate, custodial sentencing of offending rioters who have been rushed before the courts.

Has it been too hasty for the penal system? Within a week, the prison system is severely strained and, probably, having to release dangerous criminals, some with horrific records, to make way for a number with no previous convictions.

Without seeking to excuse any of the mindless hooligans, especially arsonists, we will, I expect, see, through the appeals system, the imbalances of justice doled out at break-neck speed.

Perhaps we should take more time thinking about “doing time”.

From: John Rookes, Bramley, Rotherham

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YOUR contributor R H Wilson was right to castigate Tom Howley (Yorkshire Post, August 18) for blaming Margaret Thatcher for the recent riots.

I was recently dumbfounded to watch an interview on TV with ex-Chesterfield MP Tony Benn blaming Mrs Thatcher for the present recession.

She left office in 1990 and we’ve had 13 years of Labour rule since then.

I also do not think that the present financial mess is wholly to blame for the riots; after all if you are penniless and hungry you steal food, not flat-screen TVs.

From: Colin Richardson, Garden Mews, Brandesburton

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I READ with interest Mark Stuart’s column (Yorkshire Post, August 19) stating if MPs were paid peanuts then you would get monkeys. How true. The present selection seem to spend all day nitpicking with each other.

One solution would be to halve the number, there are far to many for this country, and double their salary. The only other stipulation I would make is that all MPs should have worked in an industrial wealth-creating environment prior to becoming eligible for the post.

The vast majority have no business acumen whatsoever and their only experience is in wealth disposal which shows in the inefficient way various government departments spend as though the nation still has a bottomless pit of money.