15 DECEMBER 1990, Page 30

CAP out of hand

Sir: There is only one thing I don't under- stand about the 'European issue'. Why are so many expensively educated and even intelligent people willing to put their com- plete faith — and this country's future — in an institution whose greatest achievement to date is the Common Agricultural Policy, a folly which costs the average citizen more than the dreaded poll tax. The Germans may be good Europeans, but when it comes to a choice between trivial cuts in the CAP and the votes of their farmers, we know which considera- tion will be paramount.

We should not need 'concessions' from the US in trade talks to do something which will benefit 350 million Europeans.

Philip Freeman

42 St Thomas Drive, Hatch End, Pinner, Middlesex