IT MAKES me chuckle to see that Colin Smith, the personal assistant to our local MP Dr Julian Lewis, uses e-mail to write to the press, when he isn’t allowed to use it for more productive reasons, like dealing with constituents casework.

Equally cheeky is his reference to the European Union being a failed organisation.

Clean beaches, clean rivers, cleaner air, cheaper flights, cheaper mobile calls, trading without tariffs, peace for six decades, millions of people living and working where they wish to, safer workplaces, safer products, the list goes on.

If he wants an example of a failed organisation, he should look no further than the Conservative party – split on Europe, split on devolution, spilt on forcing all schools into academy status, failure to extract tax from the big corporations whilst taxing the working poor, failure at reducing the national debt, bungled efforts to take benefits from the disabled..... an even longer list.

Councillor David Harrison

New Forest Liberal Democrats

Totton