Devon Earl up for election

EAST Devon s eurospectics heard a blue-blooded Devon Earl rail against the European Union last week - in his campaign to become a Euro MP.

EAST Devon's eurospectics heard a blue-blooded Devon Earl rail against the European Union last week - in his campaign to become a Euro MP.

At a public meeting at Bicton College last week, William Earl of Dartmouth Dartmouth said that Britain's 'continuing' membership of the European Union was an 'immense' financial burden to the UK.

The debate was part of his campaign to get elected in the South West in June's European elections.

He said: "The costs are quite staggering and even by conservative estimates we pay �40 million a day to the E.U.

"When you factor in the costs of the Common Agricultural Policy and the ongoing environmental disaster that is the Common fisheries Policy, this adds another �40 million per day."

He said that the burdens of unnecessary EU red tape and regulation which were 'gold plated' by the Government amounted to �100 million per day. "Together, this totals over �4,000 per household per year. At a time when we are in a deep recession and need our economy to grow, we simply cannot afford to be members of this very expensive club. The sooner we leave, the quicker we can get the UK economy growing again.