FOR once, let me congratulate our North West MEP Chris Davies on his revealing admission in his recent Letter from Europe that laws formulated in Europe can, in his words, "have profound implications for Britain, but our ministers tend to use a statutory instrument to slip them on to the statute books without even a debate in the Commons. Most Westminster MPs probably never even notice this is happening. Everyone who is concerned about democracy should ask at least one question about this procedure. Why is it that we MEPs negotiate the final shape of these laws, not with elected ministers but with their civil servants?".

Let me welcome Chris into the ranks of those of us who have been greatly concerned about the threat to our democracy and the damage to it which has already been done. He is quite right to say that our MPs are probably unaware of what is happening. There are so many hundreds of directives and other regulations which take precedence over our Westminster laws that it would be impossible for them to know.

Two disastrous directives come to mind: the EU Rail directive enforcing the privatisation of the railways and the one bringing about the drastic reduction of the Post Office monopoly and the splitting up and privatisation of the best postal service in the world. EU regulations are forcing local abattoirs to go out of business, with 800 closures and the consequent implications for such things as foot and mouth disease.

There is no opposition to Government policies worth speaking of. The word is handed down from the EU and the EU must be obeyed.

JIM HOMEWOOD,

Rectory Green, Prestwich.