A referendum on the Lisbon Treaty is Britain's last chance to arrest its loss of democratic independence
Letters, September 16: The state of Europe; The unions and cuts; Vulnerable to MPs; Axed announcer; Human tissue banks; Reality imitating soap; Fixed date of Easter
SIR – Britain's ability to govern itself as a democracy has been seriously eroded since Ted Heath signed away our fishing rights (in secret) in exchange for our acceding to the Treaty of Rome in 1973.
In 1975, people who voted Yes in the referendum on the Common Market, including myself, were under the impression that it was a trading bloc. No one thought it would morph into an unelected, corrupt body imposing 75 per cent of our laws.
A referendum is vital. Yet the Labour and Conservative leaders both know they would be powerless to act on a No vote.
Simon Lever
Torquay, Devon
SIR – Your leading article (September 14) notes that Ireland has been "coerced" into repeating its referendum.
I can only hope that those brave enough to say No to the might of Europe last time will feel able to do so again, saving us from ratification of a treaty on which British citizens have been denied a referendum.
John Goddard
Morden, Surrey
SIR – Phil Jones (Letters, September 14) is absolutely correct to aver that David Cameron's right to give us a referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon does not depend on the decision of Irish voters in their own referendum. Nor does it depend on German judges or the Czech president.
The Conservative Party gave a solemn pledge to consult us by referendum before any ratification of the EU Constitution devised by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. None but fools or knaves bother to deny any more that this twice-rejected Constitution and the Treaty of Lisbon are one and the same. Even Mr Giscard d'Estaing admits they are almost identical. The precedent is clear. In 1975, Harold Wilson enabled us to revisit the Act of Accession to the Treaty of Rome, even though that Act has been signed, sealed and ratified two year earlier.
Given the concessions to the Irish and the Germans, we have an absolute right to insist the Tories abide by their pledge.
Frederick Forsyth
Hertford
SIR – Article 48 (6) of the Lisbon Treaty has been called the "ratchet clause". It allows amendments to be made to it without the necessity of a new amending treaty and ratification.
So if we allow this treaty to pass, our MPs will never have a say in any further decision-making.
R. A. McWhirter
Zurich, Switzerland
SIR – I was fascinated by the illustration in your Monday feature on Europe. By my calculation, the EU expenditure on Britain amounted to 122 euros a person, while for France the figure was 217 euros.
The highest rate for a major country was Greece, at 757 euros.
These figures are of course only one side of the coin. We also need to know each nation's contribution to the EU.
Colin Haselup
Bruton, Somerset
SIR – In quoting Churchill's 1946 Zurich speech, Adrian Michaels gives a false impression of its intention by implying that Churchill favoured British membership of a United States of Europe.
A key sentence from the speech shows otherwise: "Great Britain, the British Commonwealth of Nations, mighty America and I trust Soviet Russia – for then indeed all would be well – must be the friends and sponsors of the new Europe and must champion its right to live and shine."
Churchill would have been horrified that the British sovereignty, democracy and freedom he fought to preserve in the Second World War is being sacrificed to a European Union whose increasingly naked ambition, as it has turned out, is to reverse the perceived victory of "Anglo-Saxon" values in that war.
Bernard Connolly
London E1
SIR – Your leading article (September 14) asks two questions: "What is the state of Europe?" and "Does Europe work?"
I have just finished reading Brussels Laid Bare by Marta Andreasen, who was the director of finance of the European Union.
She answers both those questions very clearly and I would suggest that her book is compulsory reading for all those who are concerned about the state of Europe and our place in it.
John Rose
Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire
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