Sir, – Timothy Kirkhope, MEP, urges us (D&S letters, Oct 7) all to vote for Welcome to Yorkshire and Gary Verity and his team at the World Travel Awards.

It must be a comfort to owners of businesses and attractions in Yorkshire to know Mr Kirkhope is advocating Yorkshire as a holiday destination for his friends and colleagues in Europe.

Businesses are struggling to make a living while coping with the ever-increasing burden of regulation and taxation mainly emanating from the EU. It is therefore somewhat patronising of Mr Kirkhope, from the rarefied position of receiving in excess of £150,000 a year salary, plus second home, plus free firstclass travel, plus endless perks and, ultimately, an inflationproof gold-plated pension, all courtesy of the taxpayers who do not enjoy such luxuries, to infer that any success of Welcome to Yorkshire is due to his efforts in Europe.

This country is pouring £40m a day, of money we have to borrow, into the bottomless pit of the EU, to support an army of bureaucrats, officials and hangers-on, who have done so much to reduce this country to its present parlous state.

R M ROBINSON Sutton, Thirsk.