Referendum on Europe required

GERALD Warner's piece on the surreal nature of the present political debate contains some germs of truth (Insight, 25 April). Immigration and the anti-democratic nature of the EU are issues which the mainstream Westminster parties wish to keep entirely under the radar.

Gerald Warner correctly regards the present EU institutions as being incompatible with the integrity of the nation state and localised democracy. He thinks that Project Europe is part of a Marxist plot to set up a totalitarian world government. But is it not the market state which is itself totalitarian?

Surely the driving force behind the EU is international capital which everywhere seeks to replace democratic nation states with an overarching market, operating purely on consumerism and placing competitive striving and economics before the social and communal needs of society? Your readers will recall that the draft EU constitution (which we were not allowed to vote on) contained 79 references to "competitiveness".Creating a European market state is what the EU is about, nothing less.

Such a view, putting economics first, used to be called Social Darwinism. It has uncomfortable affinities to traditional Fascism. Hitler's plans for the Europe of the Third Reich also involved suppression of indigenous nation states. Somehow, Mr Warner misses this and finds a non-existent Socialist chimera instead. But that apart, he raises important issues which need to be exposed, discussed and then (vitally) voted upon by referendum. That would be a real political debate.

Randolph Murray, Rannoch

GERALD Warner's final paragraph in his biting attack on the "Progressive Consensus" destroying British democracy contains the ultimate irony in citing the universally demonised BNP as the only bulwark against it.

This goes beyond party politics, the main target being the most vital facet of personality: individuality. Restrictive politically correct laws have effectively paralysed community relationships, leaving us fearful of expressing opinions publicly for fear of being labelled racist, for instance.

JS Mill, in his essay On Liberty 150 years ago, declared that liberty and individuality are essential for individual and social progress and that conformity prevents people from learning from each other. Gerald Warner accurately lays the blame for the increasing persecution of both personal and national liberty on the EU, and Mill points to this in his fear that even then Europe was progressing towards the Chinese idea of "making people alike", leading to stagnation.

This is deliberate EU policy designed to centralise power ever more tightly and has no connection with public welfare – to quote Orwell from 1984: the purpose of power is power.

Robert Dow, Tranent