Rise of regions underpins need for EMU: Letter

Sir: Sir James Goldsmith has just blown pounds 20m. I attended Saturday's conference of the Referendum Party and watched speaker after speaker ruin his party's chances of obtaining a referendum on Europe by reminding us of how Britain had won two world wars to defend our sovereignty and stating that they were ready to fight "the enemy" again.

Had the Referendum Party concentrated on what it originally claimed to be, a balanced representation of the British people seeking a referendum which would promote an honest debate about European integration, it could have perhaps obtained its objectives. Instead, it took the short step it required to become the "anti-Europe" party and in one disastrous day alienated thousands of potential supporters.

D MONCRIEFF

Durham