Sir.-Michael Cohen's letter regarding the Euro shows what a disunited and disjointed party the Tories really are.

I thought Michael Howard was against the Euro - he needs to pass the message on to his party members.

More worrying is the lack of understanding Mr Cohen uses in his argument - all the points he lists just demonstrate how different our economy is to the rest of Europe and why we should not join the euro.

The one-size-fits-all interest rate that Britain would have to adopt would, I feel, make the boom-and-bust cycles worse - as the Irish economy has demonstrated.

Since 1997, the Bank of England has demonstrated its ability to control sterling inflation and has established a better record in this respect than the Eurozone's European Central Bank.

Please remember that although the Bank of England has "independence" in its choice of interest rates, it remains accountable to the Government and surely low and steady inflation provides the best monetary environment for business and employment to thrive.

In future Mr Cohen, please get your facts right before putting forward a spurious argument for the euro along the lines of unelected officials setting interest rates.

I expected this sort of spin from Labour not the Tories!

-Name and address withheld.

Sir.-Michael Cohen's letter last week, and his theory that people would be better off with cheaper mortgages in the Eurozone, was surprising.

Apart from facts such as membership of the EU costs this country (ie the taxpayer) circa £1.4million every hour (Treasury figures), and the Common Agricultural Policy adds more than £20 each week to the family food bill, Mr Cohen has not considered the many people - particularly the retired - who are dependent on the interest from their modest savings for an income.

Lower interest rates in Euroland would push many of these people who have pride in their self-sufficiency into dependency on the state, or rather the taxpayer.

Sadly, there is never a winner without a loser and maybe those people rushing into huge mortgages should question the wisdom of their actions.

Certainly Mr Cohen should consider carefully the many good reasons why joining the euro would be a retrograde step, and just calculate what we are all already paying for EU membership.

-Name and address withheld.