STEPHEN Clee (You Say, Tuesday, April 17) is quite right when he says that Tony Blair and his Government have been playing down the significance of the recent Nice Treaty.

This treaty - yet to be ratified - has laid further foundation for the formation of a European superstate with a common army, common police force, the adoption of the European judicial system, and eventually a centralised Government. He says that Mr Blair is pursuing his policy "by stealth".

This is rich coming from a member of the Conservative Party: successive Conservative Governments have been pursuing this policy by stealth since Sir Edward Heath took us in to the "Common Market" in 1973.

Mr Clee trots out the Tory policy on Europe which is "in Europe but not part of an EU superstate".

This, of course, is not an option.

The agenda of the main players in the EU is the formation of a superstate, and we cannot change that.

Nor can we sit on the sidelines forever. There is only one option, and that is to come out of this expensive club which costs us a lot of money, but from which we get no benefit.

In a recent phone-in poll held by BBC Hereford & Worcester, 83 per cent voted to leave the EU, 13 per cent voted to stay in and 4 per cent did not know.

RICHARD CHAMINGS,

Prospective Parliamentary Candidate,

UK Independence Party,

Crumpton Hill, Storridge, Malvern.