VAL Cowell (You Say, Friday, April 4) finds my comments unpalatable. I fear she will probably find my next comments even more so.

She condemns the Tories in general and Edward Heath in particular for "proven deceit" when he took the UK into the EU in 1973. For the record this decision was taken by a majority of MPs, after a free vote in Parliament.

For the record too it was the Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson who then renegotiated the terms of entry, putting these before the whole British people in a referendum in 1975. That presumably made him party to the same "deceit".

The idea that both major political parties were apparently determined to sell out their country does seem rather odd.

Finally she invites me to agree with her that the correct name of the European Union is the European Union of the Regions. It isn't. The correct name is just the European Union. The European Commission has channelled funding via regions since early days without any call for Regional Government.

This call comes exclusively from Downing Street, and is made by Labour politicians for the sole benefit of Labour politicians.

Some people may look back in anger at their version of the past, some 30 years ago. Others try to work positively to secure a better vision of the future.

PHILIP BUSHILL-MATTHEWS,

Conservative MEP, West Midlands Region,

European Parliament, Brussels.