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Letter to the Editor

Daily Telegraph - Thursday, 19th October 2006

Dear Sir,

Peter Scott (letters, Oct 18th) asks about EU funding to maintain British cathedrals, having seen renovation work in Segovia, Spain. He writes as if EU funding came down like manna from heaven. It does not. It is taxpayers' money. It is our money. And every pound we receive from Brussels costs the British economy at least £2.60, a sum that will increase as the British rebate decreases under Blair's recent concessions.

Of course if there are EU funds available we should see that we get our share. But EU funding is rotten value for money. They give us back a little of what was our own to start with. They tell us what to do with it. Then they expect us to be grateful.

Roger Helmer
Conservative MEP for the East Midlands