YOU could hardly have a better illustration of how British independence and democracy have been given away to the European Union, by lies and stealth, than the present dispute over asylum and immigration.

No sooner had Michael Howard put tighter immigration controls at the heart of the Conservative election campaign, than the EU Commission threatened to block his plans.

The Commission says that Mr Howard cannot adopt a go-it-alone policy, because Mr Blair's Government has already opted into the "common asylum system" and has signed directives which are binding across the EU.

Mr Howard must realise this - he is a lawyer himself, and he knows that powers, once transferred from Westminster to Brussels, cannot be given back.

All EU treaties are deliberately worded so as to preclude renegotiation. Yet he carries on making statements such as "the British Government should control Britain's borders - and with the Conservatives it will", when clearly, it won't.

This merely demonstrates the deceit and duplicity of the Conservative Party on all matters relating to the EU. Of course, all three main political parties believe in ever-closer union with the EU, but only the Tories fail to give us the facts.

Mr Howard was obviously relying on the convention that the EU does not interfere with the domestic politics of its member states during elections, to get away with his "get tough" message.

However, the EU has already accumulated so much power, that it clearly feels it no longer needs to bother with such niceties; and is now willing to pitch in to help Europhiles, like Tony Blair, to get re-elected.

In this country, we used to stand for personal freedom, parliamentary democracy, and the rule of law. Now, it seems, we will stand for just about anything!

RICHARD CHAMINGS,

UK Independence Party

Castlemorton Common