Roger Thomas UK Independence

IS it unreasonable to believe that the best people to govern Britain are the British people themselves?

Thirty years ago we were told that the Common Market was to be a simple trading agreement.

There would be no loss of sovereignty and it would not lead to a United States of Europe. Politicians lied about it then and they have continued to lie about it ever sinc.

We now have a European Union which has its own flag, anthem, currency and 'parliament'. As the saying goes, if it looks like a dog, walks like a dog and barks - it's probably a dog. European politicians are open about their aspirations for a United States of Europe, our politicians, especially those in the present Labour government, continue to deny us the truth.

At present over 70% of our laws are decided by the European Commission. Our government is nothing more than a rubber-stamping office for the EU.

An example of how powerless EU regulations have made us is the recent collapse of MG Rover. Our government could not pay a penny to help the company because this would have breached EU rules on competition.

Whether our government should help a company financially is not the issue. The real issue is that it should be free to do so if it wishes.

So what would withdrawal from the EU mean to Britain?

The most immediate effect would be that we would save approximately £30 billion per year, which includes our direct payment to the EU plus the cost of complying with the 30,000 rules, regulations and directives imposed on us by the EU Commission. British taxpayers currently send £30 million pounds per day to the EU. The EU's own auditors have refused to sign off their accounts for the last nine years.

This money that we would save, the Independence Dividend, would be used to increase the basic pension by £25 per week and be spent on essential public services. We would also be free to once again govern ourselves as we have done for the last one thousand years.

We would control our own borders, regain our traditional fishing grounds, control our own economy and support our industries when necessary. All these policy areas are currently decided in Brussels by the EU commission.

Vote UKIP on May 5 and put Britain first.