‘Gold plating’ of EU regulations

Dear Sir, - I thank Peter Cuthbert, who in last week's Chronicle letter pages describes the present governance system of the EU in response to Mr Corbett's criticism far better than I could ever do.

I also agree with him that despite being far from perfect, it is indeed superior to the UK's present system of governance.

Where I part company with him is in him describing the UK's "gold plating" of EU regulations.

I believe that if the regulations are taken in their entirety, he will fi nd that in fact the UK gold plates fewer regulations than many other countries.

What it does do, and rightly, is obey the spirit as well as the letter of these directives as most are highly desirable pieces of regulation in the areas of social and labour rights and consumer and environmental protection.

By leaving the EU, we are giving ourselves a huge amount of costly bureaucracy as well as taking the danger of lowering standards in these areas. - Yours faithfully,

(DR) PETER HIRST

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate for Congleton