SIR - Once again your correspondent, D S Boyes, lambasts the Labour party for immigration problems, the cost of keeping foreign nationals in British prisons, the West Lothian question, again conveniently forgetting that the Labour party is not in power, has not been for almost four and a half years, but a coalition of Tory and Lib Dem MPs is. (T&A,October 20).

Was it not Edward Heath that took us into an, albeit very different EEC in 1973? The rules of the club were known then, as now. It was Margaret Thatcher and her own one woman drip feed campaign to get us out of the club during the 18-year Tory reign of terror, insulting most foreigners and their heads of state along the way, that put a possible UK exit on any front page.

With economies, trade, defence and other social and cultural institutions inextricably linked, removal from it has been a lukewarm talking point by all parties bar UKIP recently, precisely because it would be difficult to achieve.

With 28 members in the present club, DSB might hate its rules and ‘alien cultural practices’, but does he think a stand-alone UK would punch above flyweight in the world?

A.Waterhouse, Barmby Road, Undercliffe, Bradford