IT is one thing for the UK Independence Party to use paid advertising for David Challice to tell a very old joke (Trago advert in the Times, December 12). Extravagant, perhaps, but no harm done. It is quite another to repeat old stories about the EU which are untrue. That Britain was 'forced' by EU rules to expose the Royal Mail to foreign competition is one such fable.

It has been the aim of British governments since the Thatcher years to 'liberalise' postal services.

We successfully persuaded our EU partners that this was a good idea, and the agreement of all EU members to allow private companies to carry mail is recorded in rules which apply throughout the EU — the so-called Postal Services Directives. Far from being 'forced' — David Challice's word —to follow these rules, Britain asked for them, part of successive governments' wish to encourage open competition throughout the EU's Single Market.

The UK Independence Party may not like the resulting free-for-all in postal services. I admit I don't much like it myself. But we can hardly blame the EU for doing what our democratically elected governments wanted. We know who to blame, and as usual they are much closer to home than Brussels!

Nor is the EU responsible ('all thanks to EU rules', says Challice) for the unpopular privatisation of the Royal Mail. There is no such agreement or obligation. Our Government thought that up all on its own.

Those who would like our country to leave the EU seem to be able to blame 'Brussels' for just about everything except the weather!

Christopher Denne

Plymouth Road

Tavistock