Dear Editor.

When Nigel Farage debated with Nick Clegg, he made it perfectly clear why he is opposed to the EU. It is because the EU is not a Common Market. This is, as I understand it, James Morris’s view as well.

What they mean by this is a free, unregulated market. This is the Tory philosophy Margaret Thatcher introduced in the 1980s. People should understand that UKIP is simply another Tory party which is opposed to the EU. If UKIP should get into power, we will see the same sort of free market economic policies - including under Labour from 1997 to 2010 - as we have had since the 1980s.

Farage is an effective performer on TV but this has to be distinguished from the policies he and UKIP are advocating. This is taken from UKIP’s website: “Taxes and Government debt rise. Energy and transport costs soar. Unemployment is too high. The NHS and state education strain under a population increase of 4 million since 2001“ (www.ukip.org/issues).

The inference here is that our problems are due to immigration. But government debt, energy and transport costs, unemployment, are home-grown problems. The NHS’s problems have more to do with an ageing population, obesity, alcoholism - again these are home-grown.

UKIP has been making ground but it is offering a false prospectus. If the public is dissatisfied with the state of the country, they have to consider how we got to this point. Any careful examination of recent decades will show that our problems are much more home-grown than imported.

John Payne, Dudley Green Party, Halesowen 22, Loughton Grove.