D E MARGRETT (You Say, July 17) has done a complete U-turn, for he now says: "The time is coming when the UK will become a net beneficiary of EU funds."

Has he done his homework following my letter of May 20 and now discovered that his previous assertions have been completely wrong? Perhaps he might like to enlighten us as to what has caused his U-turn.

However, I would suggest that once again, he is completely wrong, and say that the UK will never be a net beneficiary, but will always lose out, year after year after year - and in more than monetary terms.

Does Mr Margrett not realise that there are some 15 poor eastern European countries waiting on the sideline to join the EU and already demanding that they get more out than they put in!

This will be disaster for us once again. Eire, which has always gained from the EU is however still blocking their entry since they have not yet ratified the Nice treaty.

Irish people obviously realise that their golden goose would disappear once these poor countries joined.

An enlarged EU would be too large to administer and corruption would be more rife than it is already.

Just how could these poor countries catch up with our standard of living without the west going into reverse?

E F SHOWELL,

Fernhill Heath,

Worcester.