Letters: Count the cost of the EU – but add it up right

These letters appear in the 14th March 2016 edition of The Independent

David Cameron, right, attends a meeting with and European Council President Donald Tusk, left, and European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker, center, during a European Union leaders summit (Getty)

I wish the Brexit camp would stop exaggerating the amount of money we pay into the EU each year. Michael Gove says we pay £350m per week. Nigel Farage’s favourite figure is £55m per day, which equates to £385m per week, or £20bn a year.

None of these figures takes into account the £5bn a year rebate we get set against our contribution (of £18bn a year) before we actually pay anything. So, in 2015 our government actually paid about £13bn to the EU, that is £250m per week, or £36m per day.

But this is only half the story, because our government gets back a further £4.5bn a year in “public sector receipts” – payments for farmers and development grants to poorer areas such as Wales and Cornwall. Wales is in fact a net beneficiary of the EU. This brings our government’s net contribution down to £8.5bn a year, considerably less than half the figures quoted by Gove and Farage.

Furthermore, as a nation, our net contribution is even lower, because we get about £1.5bn to £2bn back each year paid direct to the private sector and to universities and research institutes.

Iain Duncan Smith complains that our payments go towards other member states who get back more than they pay in. But this is a main point of the system: that the richer countries help the poorer to develop, so that they in turn can, among other things, participate to a greater extent in the market.

If, as the stay-in camp believe, we are financially better off in the EU than out of it, then our net contribution of £6.6bn to £7bn per year should be seen as an investment, not as some kind of confiscation.

Francis Kirkham

Crediton, Devon

The Costa Del Crime that Lib Dem leader Tim Farron cites (12 March) disappeared in 2003. That was the year fast-track extradition was negotiated on a country-to-country basis between the UK and Spain. Nothing to do with the European Arrest Warrant, nor the EU.

A European Arrest Warrant has the effect that a UK judge is no longer able to review the primary evidence. Extradition has become a box-ticking exercise. There are no adequate safeguards.

The subjects of the warrant are often consigned to the harsh legal systems in the EU, where there is not the same degree of presumption of innocence which we take for granted in the UK. This actually happened with two constituents in Hungary.

Odd that the leader of the Lib Dems, meant to be the party of civil liberties, is a cheerleader for the European Arrest warrant.

William Dartmouth MEP

Deputy Chair, Ukip

Whiteway, Devon

Sturgeon drives on for independence

Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP conference speech declaring a new drive for independence has grabbed headlines, but does it tell us anything new?

Separation from the UK is the SNP’s raison d’être. A “them and us” narrative dominates every policy decision, every Westminster and Holyrood vote, every speech. But it’s the subtext of Sturgeon’s speech that matters. She’s admitting the majority of us oppose her UK break-up goal. It even seems probable that another independence referendum won’t be in May’s SNP manifesto.

With dire Scottish financial figures just published, Sturgeon has work to do before a majority of Scots share her dream.

Martin Redfern

Edinburgh

We have just read of the enormous £15bn deficit that Scotland would have faced if it were about to separate from the rest of the UK. Yet still the First Minister chooses this moment to reinforce her party’s commitment to making a new case for independence. Apparently the SNP’s spin-doctors are to make a start in the summer.

The SNP faithful gave this a great response at their conference. For the rest of us the message could not be clearer. Nicola Sturgeon and her party intend to pursue the break-up of the UK whatever the cost to the people of Scotland.

Keith Howell

West Linton, Scottish Borders

I have no strong opinion either way about extending opening hours on Sundays, but what I find totally objectionable is the way in which the SNP has conspired to block an activity in England and Wales that is already allowed in Scotland.

It shows the SNP in its true colours, as well as highlighting Cameron’s “English votes for English laws” as a useless fudge.

What is essential for England, if Scotland remains in the Union, is an English Parliament with at least as many powers as devolved to Scotland. But with the Tories and SNP united in resisting the idea, it is not going to happen until English MPs can only get elected on a platform of home rule for England.

Roger Chapman

Keighley

Let conservative Muslims sit apart

At Prime Minister’s Questions last week, David Cameron said to the Labour benches: “I think you should all take the pledge – no more segregated meetings.” Mr Cameron also demanded that Labour stops pandering to “bigoted religious views”. He is of course referring to infrequent political gatherings of conservative elements of the Muslim community when there are elections on.

As a politically active Muslim, I find this perplexing. The majority of conservative Muslim men and women would not want to sit side-by-side; sitting separately is a choice. It is more comfortable for them that way.

For me, sitting together is not an issue. However, if you want to open politics up to conservative Muslims, allowing them to sit separately is not only justifiable but necessary. Imposing that they sit together would drive them away.

I accept that this is strange for non-Muslims. It boils down to the Islamic concept of “hijab”. The hijab is not a piece of cloth, but a form of “separation” to maintain the modesty of both genders prior to marriage. A conservative Muslim, man or woman, will want to maintain this modesty. So, sitting together where legs may touch or small-talk may happen is off-limits. I know it seems odd, but that is how it is.

Do we want to engage all elements of society in the political process to bring them out of their shells and become one with the community? The first step is letting people engage in a way with which they feel comfortable.

Mr Cameron, for all his talk of “British values”, “radicalisation” and teaching English to Muslim women, would rather conservative Muslims be pushed further into an enclave.

Umaar Kazmi

West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire

No money outside the South-east

You report (12 March) that “the North of England is in danger of becoming a cultural wasteland as town hall leaders, struggling to cope with George Osborne’s austerity measures, are forced to slash budgets for museums”.

You could well replace “the North of England” with “Wales” and reprint the article. The oldest museum in Wales is currently under threat. Opened in 1841 and “the jewel in Swansea’s crown”, the Swansea Museum, which Dylan Thomas wrote “looked as though it should be in a museum”, faces a bleak future. To cut costs, the local authority is considering handing it over to a not-for-profit body, which would threaten its future stewardship.

Mike Stroud

Swansea

There is apparently no limit to the amount of public money available for HS2 on top of the eyewatering expense of Crossrail in London.

Without these, London, we are told, would metaphorically collapse, while in the North of England and other parts of the UK affected by bad weather, roads, bridges and train lines have actually collapsed but the money is not forthcoming for repairs.

These problems away from the South-east are a national scandal which should be addressed before any other infrastructure projects are considered.

Sue Thomas

Bowness on Windermere, Cumbria

Trump carries on a sinister tradition

A ranting, angry demagogue promises to make his country great again, blaming its weakness on an out-of-touch government, foreign agents and internal minority groups. His supporters visit violence on those who dare to protest.

Germany in the 1930s, or the USA in 2016? Of course, history doesn’t repeat itself. Does it?

Ian Bartlett

East Molesey, Surrey

Precisely the right start to the day

Overheard while drinking morning coffee at my local greasy spoon:

Student to counter server: “I’d like to order a breakfast. I want three eggs, two rashers of bacon, two sausages, two slices of black pudding, three hash browns, two rounds of toast please, and beans.”

Counter server to student: “How many beans?

Barbara MacArthur

Cardiff