COUNCILLOR Stephen Allison's UK Independence Party (Ukip) is unwilling to admit that the UK has just as much influence over EU policy as does any other EU member.

This includes the rotating chairmanship of the EU and various vetoes and/or voting alliances with other EU members on specific issues.

The situation gives the lie to the fantasy "victim myth" peddled by Ukip and others who want us to see the UK through their "distorted mirror" as a toothless and passive victim under a one-person jackboot.

I do not accept this caricature.

The recent debacle over "metric martyrdom" illustrates these facts perfectly. It has emerged that there would have been no real EU problem for the UK to have retained its traditional weights and measures.

The true pressures to conform to something absurd and unwanted are often from the Westminster parliament, which neglects its rights of local scrutiny in EU policy and - for its own purposes - tightens EU policy even more - ie, so-called "gold plating" of EU regulations.

The UK government is naturally quite content to use the EU as a popular scapegoat for Westminster's own waywardness. Why has Councillor Allison not seen through this "ploy?" Or does he, in fact, support it?

E Turnbull, Gosforth, Newcastle.