UKIP Vote Shows Perils of Patronising the Public
Letters to the Editor

Intellectual snobbery from all the main parties aimed at the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and its supporters has been rife during the European election campaigns (report and leading article, June 14th). They have all assumed that the great unwashed are simply not clever enough to grasp the real issues of Europe. The political élite has forgotten that we simple-minded people usually have a simple-minded approach to what the real issues are.

We expect fair-play and common sense. We expect our taxes to be spent prudently and sensibly and we expect honesty and integrity from our politicians. Those who voted UKIP feel angry at the complete failure of the bureaucrats in Brussels to stem the massive amount of fraud and corruption taking place in their organization. We feel angry at the plethora of rules and regulations handed down by the EU and we seem to be the only country that abides by them and go on to employ a small army of officials to enforce them.

These issues are as easily understood by one with a secondary modern education as any Oxbridge graduate. We are not so dim-witted as to believe that the EU will now collapse as a result of our vote, but we take a lot of satisfaction in knowing that we have demonstrated our contempt for those politicians and social commentators who insist on patronising us in this way.
Suzanne Taberner
Fleetwood, Lancs
The Daily Telegraph, 15th June 2004