IMAGINE yourself, an MEP, sitting in the EU Parliament among other Europeans whose political philosophy is deemed to be roughly the equivalent of your own.

You are all clutching identical instructions telling you when to vote for or against new laws, presented, as ever, by either the EU Commission or EU Council.

Earlier, you attended one of your three “subject” committees, where, just possibly, you made a suggestion to amend a new law which, if agreed, would indicate to your EU political group to vote against it.

However, with the new laws only identified by numbers and letters on your instructions, most laws can’t be identified as you vote.

Thus few amendments are accepted and EU laws are rarely permanently rejected.

There is insufficient time for MEPs to study every new proposal and form a personal opinion on it, let alone inform their electorate.

Anyway, even a genius couldn’t memorise all the laws and code numbers, were this not the case. Probably it’s only the daily attendance allowance which persuades our MEPs to vote at all.

In her column, headed “‘Travelling circus’ must be halted” (Echo, Oct 2), North-East Liberal MEP Fiona Hall (Echo, Oct 2) calls this democracy. The EU Parliament is as democratic as the 18th Century court of Versailles, only more extravagant.

Charlotte Bull, UK Independence Party, Darlington.

IT’S a truism that if a nation loses its way of life then it loses its soul; and that if a nation loses its soul then it loses its will to live.

Arguably the most important thing about British society is its distinct culture, tradition and history and the best way to maintain this is by keeping control of our own economic destiny by staying out of a European superstate run from Brussels.

Let’s have a Europe of independent sovereign states pledged to trade and to co-operate freely for the benefit of all.

It’s time to stand up and say: unity in diversity, rather than ever closer union.

Aled Jones, Bridlington, East Yorkshire.