Letters: Ask not what Europe can do for you...

The following letters appear in the 4th February edition of the Independent

The European Commission in Brussels; David Cameron is confident that the basis of an agreement can be struck with the European Council president, Donald Tusk (AFP/Getty)

The most disappointing aspect of the EU referendum debate so far is that it seems wholly to focus on us, the UK, and whether or not we would be financially better off in or out of the EU. Are we so self-centred that we don’t care about what our leaving would do to the Union?

Can we not see that if we left our example could well be followed by others.There are, after all, Euro-sceptic parties in most of our partner states. We could find ourselves next door to a Europe of a mess of countries all doing their own thing, some maybe having abandoned democratic government in favour of the “certainties” of authoritarian regimes, and many having dropped other enlightened policies established by the EU.

In fact, we, and our current 27 partners, could find ourselves in a scenario uncomfortably reminiscent of the 1920s and 1930s, but in our case without the Empire to help us.

As a nation we used to pride ourselves on our reputation for honesty, reliability and enlightened diplomacy, and we were often looked at to provide trustworthy leadership. Why don’t we try to revive these assets and skills to work closely with our mainland friends to help EU evolution? That role would suit us better than the self-obsessed whingeing Pom character created by so many of our Eurosceptic Little Englanders.

Geoff Harris

Warwick

You argue in today’s editorial (3 February) for our continued membership of the EU but point out that the EU needs a “thoroughgoing programme of reform”. How likely is that from an EU that you acknowledge will only permit David Cameron “pitiful gains” from his negotiations, even with the threat of a vote to leave.

It is often said that we will lose influence if we leave the EU but it doesn’t seem we have much at the moment. Britain, of all the members, is the best placed to drive forward reform to “improve competitiveness, restore economic growth and boost jobs”, but no one in Brussels seems interested in what we might offer. The only changes we will see will be for greater harmonisation and closer union.

A vote for us to leave may be a risk, and we will need a government and a leader who can steer the country to achieve the potential benefits. Perhaps our success outside the EU will prompt it to see what it needs to do to reform itself. The alternative will be its continued decline in the world as the new economies compete and grow.

Julian Gall

Godalming, Surrey

David Cameron is obviously doing his best to convince his Eurosceptic colleagues of the value of his negotiations with Europe. If the referendum should go the way these colleagues would prefer, it looks as if Cameron’s “legacy” would be to be seen as the Prime Minister who took us out of Europe – and presumably the one who lost Scotland, as it seems pretty likely that if we voted “Out”, Scotland would go for another shot at independence.

We would then be a small offshore island with little relevance to the US (which has seen us as a conduit to Europe) and of no concern to mainland Europe, though still affected by many of the European rules and regulations – but without any clout of our own.

This is not 1950, though some Eurosceptics would like it to be so. Voting “Out” would be disastrous and reduce us to an irrelevance in the eyes of most of the world.

Angela Peyton

Beyton, Suffolk

Fighting the Tory one-party state

A “one-party state” as outlined by Matthew Norman (3 February) appears to be exactly the objective of a Conservative government elected with less than 37 per cent of the vote. But he is wrong to say that nobody cares.

The Liberal Democrats tried to block changes to electoral laws which the Electoral Commission warned could disenfranchise almost two million voters (and ensure that there would be fewer constituencies in future won by non-Conservatives). Sadly a handful of Labour peers went home just before the crucial vote.

We are also trying to block one-sided attempts by the Conservatives to change party funding rules by reducing financial support for opposition parties that enables them to scrutinise legislation and to develop alternative policies. They plan to remove much trade union funding from the Labour Party, while leaving intact the Conservatives’ own funding sources from around 50 multimillionaires.

The continuing cuts and threats to BBC funding may also be seen as an attempt to tame criticism of government policies from an impartial source of news, while it remains unclear if the second part of Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry concerning malpractice in other sections of the media will go ahead.

Above all, we need a constitutional convention, as proposed by Lib Dem peer Lord Purvis of Tweed, to do for the UK what such a body achieved for Scotland before the creation of its parliament. It will need in particular to look at how election outcomes should be more reflective of the wishes of voters.

Lord Rennard

Liberal Democrat

House of Lords

Cambridge turns the clock back

So, Cambridge admissions tutors look to the future by winding the clock back some 30 years (“Cambridge introduces written tests for applicants after AS-levels scrapped”, 3 February).

The special examination for entrance to Cambridge was abolished in the 1980s because colleges wanted to level the playing field for candidates from state and private schools. Admissions tutors then (I was one of them) also wanted applicants to Cambridge to be assessed in the same way as applicants for admission to other UK universities. The additional hurdle for admission to Cambridge was removed because it was recognised that candidates from state schools could not receive as much (if any) coaching for it as would applicants from private schools.

Restoring a written entrance examination is a step backwards mistakenly disguised as a step forwards.This negative move is being made because AS examinations have been “scrapped” and because A-levels have become blunted as a discriminatory tool, with commercial examination boards awarding increasing proportions of top grades to attract more “customers”.

A better long-term solution would be the creation of a single national examining board and a return to close co-operation between schools and universities in examinations for A-levels (as was the case some years ago).

Dr Alan Baker

Emmanuel College

Cambridge

Act now against Zika virus

We welcome the announcement by the World Health Organisation featured in your front page article “WHO declares Zika outbreak a global public health emergency” (2 February). With the numbers affected by Zika rising, we hope this will help to mobilise experts and speed the hunt for a vaccine.

But we do not know how long it will take for scientists to find a vaccine. Until it is found, it’s vital that we work together as a global community to prevent more cases. And we must act now.

Plan has been working in Latin America since the 1960s and Brazil for the past 20 years. We have already provided thousands of communities, homes and schools at risk from Zika with vital mosquito nets, medicine, safe water drinking tanks and portable detection kits to fight mosquito-borne diseases. But we cannot do this alone. We urge governments, aid agencies and the international community to help stop the spread of Zika and other mosquito-borne diseases.

Tanya Barron

Chief Executive, Plan UK

London EC1

On the road to Damascus

The parties assembled in Geneva are currently holed up in their separate posh hotel rooms and refusing to communicate with each other.

Can we not arrange for them to be flown over Syria and parachuted down on to the road to Damascus? Actually being “on site” so to speak and able to experience the reality of what is occurring there, as the various factions approach, will perhaps focus their thoughts sharply.

I think it may help.

Rosy Curtis

Leicester

The Prime Minister must feel lucky for his privileged upbringing, world-class education, and professional as well as personal success. As an appreciation of this luck, the Prime Minister might try being more considerate and less dismissive of those who had to give up their homeland in pursuit of a safer or more prosperous future for themselves and their families.

Bambos Charalambous

Manchester

If causing delay is a crime

If the actions of the Heathrow 13, delaying thousands of passengers, warrant a custodial sentence, how come the Northern Rail executive are not all behind bars?

Paul Armstrong

Workington, Cumbria