THE claim in Mr Christopher Denne?s letter (August 5) that a quarter of a million jobs in the region depend on exports to the EU may be right. But many more jobs in the EU depend on us buying goods from them.

Every year we buy more from the EU than we sell to them. Iceland, Switzerland and Norway are not in the EU but trade with it. The USA does more trade with the EU than Britain but the American people are not subject to domestic rule by Brussels.

The South West jobs Mr Denne describes are dependent on trade with the EU not on membership.

Mr Denne waxes lyrical about West Country receipt of EU money. It doesn?t exist, it?s our own money.

The people of Torridge and West Devon alone have to find £300,000 every week and give it to Brussels as their share of Britain?s budget contribution to the EU.

Multiply that figure by the nine constituencies in Devon and you arrive at a figure of well over £135-million handed over to Brussels by Devon Residents every year. Taking the whole of the South West region, that figure rockets up to one and a quarter billion every year.

Perhaps Mr Denne can tell us what projects have been funded in the South West where such sums have been spent. He needn?t bother, they don?t exist.

Britain is at present the second largest financial contributor to the EU budget. If the commission gets its way and we?re not allowed to have the rebate, we will be the largest contributor.

He is quite right to say that the only way to leave the EU is through the Westminster parliament. The support for UKIP is getting stronger every week and after the next general election UKIP will have MPs in Westminster.

He says that the majority of the voters in the South West voted for pro-European parties. Quite right, but UKIP topped the poll in 11 out of 17 local authorities. If this result were duplicated in a general election we would win many seats in Westminster.

George Mudge

Chairman

S W Devon UKIP