CAMBRIDGESHIRE County Council, Huntingdonshire District Council, the police authority and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority have all raised their tax demands by around three per cent, despite Government pressure on tax authorities to cut their expenditure and maintain Council Tax at the 2011/2012 level or even decrease it.

A tax rise of three per cent may not seem a large increase but, when integrated with the huge increases imposed by gas and electricity suppliers, and the ever-increasing cost of road and rail travel, it becomes a significant factor for taxpayers, especially if they are on a fixed income or pension.

Less well-paid citizens are suffering greatly, and it could all be avoided.

The United Kingdom contributes approximately �50million a day for membership of the EU, or just over �2million every hour of the year. The unelected EU commissioners in Brussels have the temerity to demand more money from member countries for setting up EU embassies around the world and give pay rises to already over-paid officials while the rest of us have to tighten our belts to survive.

There are approximately 170,000 people living in Huntingdonshire, of whomh about 70,000 are employed and paying taxes. If by some miracle the Government decided to pull the UK out of the EU and share the resulting savings equally with its citizens, the result would be approximately �300 for every man woman and child every year. Residents of Huntingdonshire would receive a total of �51m.

If the saving in EU membership were paid only to UK workers paying taxes, each taxpayer would receive just over �600, and the total input to Huntingdonshire would still be about �51m every year.

If Cambridgeshire County Council’s tax demand is also considered in the same way, there would be a total input to the county of �180m, or �129m if Huntingdonshire is excluded. These huge savings could also be used to give us a very good reduction in Council Tax.

Small and medium-sized businesses would benefit from the removal of stifling bureaucratic EU regulations, resulting in increased employment prospects for the jobless and the potential for growth of the UK’s GDP.

When are our politicians going to develop some common sense and disentangle our country from the stranglehold of the European Union? Pigs might fly! We can dream of a truly democratic Britain where the people have a proper say in how their country is governed, but dreams tend to fade when reality returns.

DEREK NORMAN

Brampton Road

Huntingdon