MR WROATH (Letters, August 3) has requested clarification of the Conservative position regarding the EU.
The Conservatives would declare an end to further EU integration. We call for a referendum before the disturbing Nice Treaty becomes effective. A Conservative Government would enshrine such a right in statute for any future treaty. Hence, Paul Sykes, leader of the Referendum/Democracy Movement, has decided to support the Conservative Party.
We will oppose entry into EMU. At the end of the next Parliament, if circumstances are very different from today, we may review the position. However, unless the fundamental economic, constitutional and democratic case against the Euro has changed — I believe, a profoundly unlikely event — we will not seek entry.
Finally, we will initiate a renegotiation of the Treaties to include the limitation of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice and the return of central aspects of policy to national control.
There are many reasons why a renegotiation might now succeed. UKIP says there is no point trying. This is the despairing counsel given to Margaret Thatcher when she fought for and obtained a rebate of the grossly disproportionate sums we were paying to the EEC. It underestimates what is possible and fails to be sufficiently ambitious for Britain.
The Liberal Democrats on the other hand are the eager confederates of this government in its stealthy preparations to bamboozle the people of Britain, against their better judgment, into the flawed structures of a political Union of Europe. Hear their own words: 'For us, European unity means more than agreements between national governments in areas where their interests coincide. To us, it implies a redefinition of the role of the nation state.'
A vote for UKIP in constituencies like marginal West Devon and Torridge allows the Liberal Democrats in. Do not waste your vote. For your country's sake, vote Conservative.
Geoffrey Cox
Conservative spokesman
West Devon and Torridge