SIR - Philip Bushmill-Matthews MEP defends the vote by he and his EU colleagues to alter our inheritance laws to follow the Continental tradition by saying it was a non-binding vote.

This is the pattern that the EU defenders always follow, "It is only a discussion paper", "It won't affect us", "It won't happen for years", "It will be changed in the EU Parliament" and then lo and behold the EU Parliament votes in favour of the measure with no changes because, of course, 89 per cent of the MEPs are not from the United Kingdom.

The time to oppose these bills is from the start. Did Mr Bushmill-Matthews vote against the report? I doubt it.

Beverly Johnson