MICHAEL Howard descended on West Devon recently to entice us with his charms (Times, November 25). But instead of presenting us with incontrovertible reasons for voting Conservative, all he could do was to repeat the same stale message we have been hearing from local Tories: ?If you vote UKIP, you?ll let Labour back in.? Oh dear! Mr Howard still does not understand what UKIP represents. In fact, this can be simply stated: the coming together of millions of people from all walks of life, united by their belief in their country, who have lost faith in all the old parties and in their ability to preserve our national interests within the European Union. EU withdrawal is not part of the Tory agenda (in deference to the Party?s still substantial Euro-enthusiast wing), as Mr Howard was happy to confirm in Tavistock last week. The Conservatives talk of taking ?more powers back from Brussels to Britain?, but aside from looking to renegotiate the Common Fisheries Policy, it is unclear precisely which powers they have in mind and in which areas they remain content for Brussels to hold sway. Contrast this confused message with the purity of UKIP?s approach which is to withdraw Britain from the whole EU policy framework (Common Fisheries and Agricultural Policies included) as a first step in a process of national regeneration. For all their self-professed Euro-scepticism, the Conservatives cannot be trusted on Europe. In the European Parliament, their party is aligned to the federalist European People?s Party; and when last in government, they were responsible for more European integration (in the form of the Single European Act and Maastricht) than any of their predecessors (except perhaps that other Conservative Government under Ted Heath which took Britain into the EEC in the first place). In truth, the Conservatives are not so much Euro-sceptic as pseudo-sceptic. If one believes that the national interest would best be served by Britain?s withdrawal from a corrupt, bloated and inefficient European Union, then UKIP is the only choice. Certainly, that national interest would not be served by swallowing the confused, self-serving message proffered by a moribund Conservative Party. Matthew Jackson Prospective parliamentary UKIP candidate for West Devon and Torridge