Letters

TONY Blair has bowed to pressure and agreed to accept a European Union directive compelling companies to consult their staff over restructuring, job cuts and other issues.

The CBI claims that this will allow trade unions to interfere in the day-to-day running of companies.

The end result is to discourage inward investment in Britain and to encourage British companies to move their businesses outside the EU where restrictions are less onerous.

The euro is weak because so many European companies are already doing exactly that and are willing to accept a 25 per cent reduction in the value of the euro in order to relocate outside Europe. This is behind the strength of the dollar.

If Britain were to join the euro at the current value, the devaluation of the pound would make petrol at £4 a gallon inevitable.

The pound has already dropped to a 15-year low against the dollar at just the possibility that this might happen. This must increase the price of petrol as oil as well as many other raw materials are sold in dollars. - K Peacock, Darlington.

SALARIES

HAVE some elements of the media taken leave of their senses?

For the past four years, the Prime Minister and his Cabinet have not taken up 27 per cent of their salaries.

Mr Blair, quite rightly, has decided they should get the rate for the job.

Some footballers get more in two weeks and Mr Blair gets in a year. Even Third Division players were getting more than the PM.

Has the world gone stark staring mad? - Hugh Pender, Darlington.

I AGREE with Tony Blair and the rest of the team being rewarded with a large salary increase.

I do not agree with all the perks they get - rent-free mansions plus the high expenses which they claim. They should contribute some of the salaries towards accommodation which would help keep the taxes down.

If they want to live lavish lifestyles, most have a lot of interests in companies outside of Parliament position which does not make it a full-time job, just when it suits.

Did the 42 per cent who did not bother to vote have any faith of trust in them? - N Tate, Darlington.

HARDLY had Tony Blair put his foot over the threshold of 10 Downing Street when he voted himself a big fat pay rise.

It would have looked better if he had increased the pensioners' Christmas bonuses to £100, after all, they put him in.

Of course this is nothing new. The former leader of the Labour Party, Neil Kinnock, and his wife, are both on the gravy train in Europe. Mr Blair stated he would deliver the people from want, obviously he has started the process one at a time, with himself as number one.

It's a great pity such speed had not been shown giving compensation to the veterans with Gulf War Syndrome or even the miners' pensioners for lung diseases.

Here in Gateshead, a nursery school has been closed down because of shortage of cash. A library trailer for the children in the Teams area is also to be discontinued. A few hundred pounds would have solved both these problems - a couple of things he did not mention when he was singing the praises of a future Labour Government to the schoolchildren.

Is it any wonder over 50 per cent of the country did not bother to vote and that the young people are so disgusted and cynical about politicians and political parties. - James Fitzpatrick, Gateshead.

GENERAL ELECTION

IN the General Election, I was naturally very interested in the North-East results.

But it was good to see other results from around the country included in The Northern Echo listings (Echo, June 9). Every constituency, from Aberavon to Yorkshire East, was given. This was an excellent reader service. - LD Wilson, Guisborough.

TREATY OF NICE

THE people of the Republic of Ireland had a referendum on the same day as our General Election. They had the chance to vote on the latest EU Treaty, the Treaty of Nice.

UK Constitutional convention does not allow local people the same opportunity, but 1 would be interested in readers' views. The Treaty of Nice is not, in my opinion, a remarkable document, especially as it does not extend the powers of the European Parliament, the EU's only democratic body, but, as with most of these things, the Treaty was revised and amended so that all 15 European governments could agree to it. However, the main aspect that underpins the Treaty of Nice is enlargement. Up to 12 countries, mostly in Eastern Europe, have applied to join the EU and, on the basis that they manage to meet the fairly stringent entry requirements, some could join within two or three years. This can be seen as a sort of "peace dividend" following the break-up of the Soviet Union, guaranteeing security in Europe.

The positive implication for Yorkshire and the Humber is that it adds over 100 million people to the existing single market for trade, business and work - much of it accessible on our doorstep via the North and Baltic Seas. The possible downsides are that the new entrants will need financial support in the early years. This means that funding allocated to countries such as Ireland, Portugal and Spain will be reduced, if not withdrawn altogether. 1 would be interested therefore in your readers' views of enlargement. Put in the position of the Irish, would they have voted yes or no? Are they in favour of enlargement? 1 would be grateful if readers could contact me at my constituency address or via my email: diana www.dianawallismep.org.uk - Diana Wallis MEP, Yorkshire and the Humber, Liberal Democrat, Hull.