Letter: The Brussels yoke

Sir: As one of the "Eurosceptics" so derided in J W Holmes' letter (23 December), I would like to put the record straight.

Harmonizing "taxation, financial and social matters" with the rest of the EU in the way he exhorts us to do would mean adopting a model which is not only alien to our way of life but also manifestly failing. Why should any citizen of this land want to be taxed and regulated more, or to more than double his chances of being unemployed?

Mr Holmes also urges us to "adopt the euro as soon as possible", citing the ability to devalue as the only advantage of having one's own currency - he chooses to ignore the fact that currency values change as part of the action of the markets, reflecting the relative performances of economies. Having one's own currency allows the authorities to set economic policy to suit domestic conditions. Many millions of Britons suffered great hardship when we last gave up the ability to do this, during the ERM fiasco. EMU presents all of the same problems, but does not even give the possibility of escape.

Were we to follow Mr Holmes' advice, we would turn our back on our history and values, and lock ourselves irrevocably into a bureaucratic, sclerotic, European superstate. It is a sad sign of the degree to which our national self-confidence has been undermined that this is seriously suggested as the best future for us.

Far from being country bumpkins, we Eurosceptics raise our eyes to the broad horizons available to the UK as a great trading nation, with the fifth largest economy in the world. It is within our reach to do so much better - if we can just free ourselves from the yoke of rule from Brussels.

AUSTIN SPREADBURY

London EN2