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		Letter to the Editor Daily Telegraph - Thursday 16th February 2006 Dear Sir, In the current debate about Conservative MEPs and the EPP group, the issue of "influence" is often raised, so it is instructive to see how this works in practice. On Thursday in Strasbourg, the European parliament voted the Services Directive, a long overdue measure to create a single market in services. Conservatives support this plan, as does the British government, but the left and the trade unions, with their protectionist instincts, are against. Our EPP partners, however, have a luke-warm commitment to free markets, along with a passionate belief in Brussels consensus, so they struck a messy compromise with the socialists, and sucked in our Conservative spokesman Malcolm Harbour MEP in the process. Note that the EPP is thus to the left of New Labour, and is trying to drag the British Conservatives in that direction. At the last minute, our Conservative instincts reasserted themselves, and we rejected the EPP compromise, and voted for free trade in services. But the malign pressure from the EPP was there for all to see. Yes, EPP membership means influence, but sadly it is EPP influence over the Conservatives, not Conservative influence in the EPP. David Cameron is absolutely right to break the EPP link. Yours faithfully, Roger Helmer MEP