THE future relationship of this country with the EU is the most important of our day and, with a general election looming, I would hope that your readers are doing their best to discover and understand the issues involved and the views of those who will soon be asking us to vote for them.
I have been interested to find a website (http://www.candidlist.demon.co.uk">http://www.candidlist.demon.co.uk), developed by an independent academic, that seeks to classify the views on the EU of all sitting MPs and candidates at the next general election.
He has adopted strict tests for each category and, having contacted each individual, offers the chance for the nominee to correct the classification. The site has attracted nearly 10,000 visitors per month and much national publicity in the past year after it ran a complete listing of all Conservative candidates. The operator, Dr Sean Gabb, was threatened with legal action by some Conservatives discontented with their classification.
Despite some vague expressions of 'reservations' about EMU which failed to justify any other description, our sitting member John Burnett MP is judged to be in the category of 'Europhile'. The Conservative prospective candidate, Geoffrey Cox, is listed as a 'Eurosceptic'.
Paul Bates
Treleigh
Sydenham Damerel