NEWS that the National Audit Office (NAO) has refused for the past 15 years to sign off the accounts of the Department of Work and Pensions seems to have been accepted by one and all with a shrug of the shoulders.

The fact that the NAO accuses the Department of losing an estimated £3bn annually for three consecutive years through "fraud and error" hardly raises a murmur of protest; not even when the Department defends itself by stating that the NAO report is "clear evidence that its strategies are working"!

We seem to have been persuaded that waste and inefficiency are the norm under this Labour Government.

The same, however, does not hold true when it comes to EU accounts. Decisions by the Court of Auditors not to sign off EU accounts result in me receiving emotive letters of criticism from indignant Europhobes.

The fact that Britain's net annual contribution to the EU budget is about the same as that lost every year through fraud by the Department of Work and Pensions seems irrelevant to these "blame everything on Europe" letter writers.

It is worth noting that the UK Social Security Budget is larger than the entire European Union budget.

When it comes to wasting taxpayers' money, we should have no double standards.

Fraud and maladministration, whether within the EU or the British Government, must be condemned.

Poor standards of control over public funds are unacceptable. Gordon Brown should do something about it instead of boasting of how much more of our money he intends to spend.

GILES CHICHESTER,

Conservative MEP for the South West and Gibraltar.