WITH regard to your article of October 29 headlined "NFU relief over tractor directive", one can only be amazed at the naivete of some people.

The piece explained how the county's farmers were "celebrating" after the European Union had deferred a law which would prevent them from using their tractors for a more than two hours per day.

Liz Lynne MEP, that great apologist for the EU, had apparently "spent hours battling to stop these restrictions", and an NFU spokesman heaped fulsome praise on Ms Lynne and colleagues for their efforts.

But what have these MEPs done that is so wonderful? They have not stopped this ludicrous Bill from passing into law, merely delayed it five years. So now, our farmers will be free to use their tractors, when they like, until 2006.

Unfortunately, this is actually a year sooner that the European Commission (which now drafts 80 per cent of our laws) had proposed in the first place.

Besides which, the catchily entitled Physical Agents Directive, which is supposed to reduce the effect of "whole body vibration" on workers, will restrict the use of a vast range of machines, not just tractors.

The directive applies to almost every type of machine, from heavy goods vehicles to factory machine-tools.

There is a never-ending stream of red tape, dreamed up by the EU's unelected Commissioners; rubber stamped by the EU Parliament (after token resistance from MEPs); and eagerly taken on by New Labour and its Lib-Dem stooges.

Since Tony Blair became Prime Minister in 1997 we have been deluged with 14,000 new regulations, mostly from the EU, and costing British business some £15bn.

R G SPENCER,

Malvern,

Worcs.