INTERESTING Eurosceptic letters from A Gabriel and Dave Hills (November 23/24).

I don’t believe that the letters pages of the Daily Echo is the best forum for establishing the true cost of membership of the EU.

A quick check on the Internet will reveal all sorts of claims and counter-claims. Suffice to say that the most quoted seem to be the most inaccurate, trotted out by the right-wing press who get their figures from the totally discredited Taxpayers’ Alliance.

The truth is it depends on how you choose to count a whole range of figures. What cannot be disputed is the benefit we get, including £10m spent on things like Commoning and habitat restoration in the New Forest.

This ten-year investment is something we would have been very unlikely to get from our own national Government, who only a few months ago threatened to sell off our precious woodlands. There are countless other examples of EU investment benefiting our area, all of which can be found by searching the Web or by contacting our Euro MPs for details.

Neither A Gabriel nor Mr Hills can refute the fact that the EU has helped keep the peace in Europe for 50 years, something more important than any balance sheet.

COUNCILLOR DAVID HARRISON, New Forest Liberal Democrats.