Does Mr Sanders have examples of EU rules?

RICHARD Sanders (Letters 25/7/18) asks “Why should we have to have these EU rules thrust upon us, by an organisation that it not democratic and has not had its budget passed by their own Audit commission for many years.”

I would be interested to have examples of EU rules that Mr. Sanders believes we could ignore, inside or outside the EU?

If we were to remove the rule that prevents the importation of chlorinated chicken, it would no longer be possible to guarantee that food exports did not contain such meat. Hence we would not be allowed to export any products containing chicken to the EU.

Services account for c.80% of the UK economy, of which our Court system is part. Removing ourselves from the rule-based EU system could mean that we cease to be the first choice for many companies litigating in the EU, since judgements made in the UK will no longer be recognised in the EU.

The popularity of the English courts helped legal services generate £31.5bn for the UK economy in 2016.

It seems Mr. Sanders has not monitored how the EU has developed since Neil Kinnock was a Commissioner in the 1990s. If he would care to check, he would find that the EU auditors have ruled since 2007 that the accounts give a true and fair view of the EU’s finances and follow the rules of financial reporting.

If he checks with the National Audit Office, he will find that the EU accounts are on a par with those of the UK.

The Treaty of Lisbon (2007) increased democratic accountability in the EU with a Parliament based on proportional representation together with the Council of Ministers (representing democratic governments) holding its Civil Service/Executive (the European Commission) to account.

In the UK we have a House of Commons elected on a first past the post system (in 2017 the DUP got 10 MPs with 290K votes while UKIP got none with 590K) and a House of Lords (consisting of hereditary peers, appointees of the Government and the Bishops) holding the Executive and its Civil Service to account.

Perhaps Mr Sanders could explain on what basis the EU can be regarded as less democratic than the UK? (I note that UKIP won 24 seats in the European Parliament and that effectively our chief negotiator for Brexit is Olly Robbins, an unelected civil servant.)

It is not possible to ascertain how the referendum vote in the Loughborough constituency went, since its boundary is different to that of Charnwood.

However, bearing in mind the demographics, the margin either for or against would be almost imperceptible. Nicky Morgan was elected to represent all her constituents, no matter which way they voted in the General Election or in the referendum.

In advocating for what she judges to be best in the long term interests of this country, she is simply doing her duty as our Member of Parliament.

John Catt