RICHARD Whiting (December 11) seems to misunderstand the point made by eurosceptics in the Letters column.

They are not anti-Europe. They are not anti-cooperation. They are opposed to the European Union - a bureaucratic, anti-democratic, corrupt and wasteful organisation.

He implies that the EU has kept the peace in Europe since the Second World War. Who kept the peace in Europe for the first two decades after the end of the war, before the EU even existed?

Which countries in the EU would have attacked each other if the EU didn't exist? Wasn't NATO responsible for the prevention of war - especially at the height of the Soviet threat?

The fact is that supporters of the EU will say anything to give the impression that it is working. And all the while honest hard-working people are paying the cost.

The Institute Of Directors estimated the total net cost of Britain's EU membership at £20 billion a year (the equivalent of around 10p in the pound in income tax).

We can't afford to remain in the EU. As a bonus, by leaving we would regain our independence, sovereignty and the ability to govern ourselves.

Jonathan Arnott,

UK Independence Party candidate, 2004 European elections,

Ravenscroft Close, Sheffield.

Updated: 10:15 Wednesday, December 17, 2003