Europe needs the reform (From Gazette Series)

Europe needs the reform

SIR - Graham Bartlett is right to question the expense claims by our MPs (Gazette, November 12). However this is not another sleaze story. The vast majority of these expenses are fundamental to the work of an MP.

Certainly there are some aspects we should seriously question - like should MPs be able to spend up to £20,000 a year to subsidise buying a house which they can keep as a personal nest egg? Contrast this with key public sector workers in inner London who receive a state subsidy for buying a house but have to repay it when they sell up.

We should be wary that if all expenses are treated as being inherently Suspect. All we will see is cuts that will lead to MPs being even more dependent on individual donors. Democracy has a price and the current cost around £1.50 per constituent per year is a bargain.

Europe is a different matter. There is a much greater need for reform. Greens have long campaigned to end the bizarre extravagances of the European Parliament that cost the taxpayer more than EURO 200 million each year. More Greens have pledged reform than all the other parties put together. No UKIP members have signed the pledge for reform.

We urgently need a serious commitment from all parties to reform the EU if it is to regain credibility with voters. The alternative is more success for the negative single issue campaigning by UKIP who plan to willingly cede British sovereignty to the US and the undemocratic WTO. It should not be left just to Greens to campaign for a more democratic and accountable EU.

Philip Booth, Press officer, Gloucestershire Green Party. Bread Street, Ruscombe, Stroud