Letter: The Tories' choices

Sir: One of the essential skills of politics is the ability to distinguish between choices events leave us free to make and choices events do not leave us free to make.

Control of economic policy by the sovereign nation state, for which William Hague asked us to vote this week, comes into the second category. However many times we vote for it, it cannot happen. This is because of the immense increase in money moving about the world finding the most profitable place to invest, and the technical impossibility of controlling electronic methods of transfer.

This is the lesson the Conservatives should have learned on Black Wednesday, when the money crossing exchanges on one day was the equivalent of a whole year's GDP.

We have two choices: either we can belong to a much larger political unit in which there will be an element of political control over the market, or our economy will be run by the global market with no element of political control.

These are the options. Which does William Hague prefer?