Letter: Over EMU cliff

Sir: The complaint by the Europhile leadership of the CBI against mounting regulation is amusing ("Labour's red tape will strangle `golden goose' ", 2 November). Most of it originates with the European Community, and it will continue to get worse. EC edicts in force rose from under 2,000 in 1973 to over 23,000 in 1996.

The CBI has just learnt that Chancellor Schroder of Germany wants the UK to join EMU. Well, of course he does. He would like us to pay a lot more towards a bankrupt socialist agenda, their awesome pensions and social security liabilities, and eastward "enlargement" of the EU, the cost of which will make German re-unification costs seem trivial.

M J KNIGHT

Slough, Berkshire