EU funding goes to areas with most need

The EU is the same. All members pay 1 per cent of their GDP, (the size of their economy), and 5 per cent of their VAT receipts to the EU.

Of course this means that larger countries such as the UK pay more than smaller ones like the Netherlands, but the Dutch actually pay more per head, as do the Luxembourgers and others.

In fact, Norway, which is not even a member, pays more per head than we do to have access to the Single Market.

The UK, while still a member, has a Commissioner, its Ministers are represented in the Council of Ministers, and we have directly elected MEPs in the European Parliament. There is not one “Committee”.

All these bodies and individuals representing their country have a say in how the money is spent.

A basic principle is that funding goes into poorer areas with the greatest needs, including South Yorkshire.

Sadly, UKIP and some Tory MEPs have preferred to be rude to fellow MEPs rather than work constructively in their committees to get the best deals for UK needs, while also supporting other countries’ particular needs.

That’s how to achieve benefits for the UK; it’s called solidarity.

A walk around the centre of Sheffield sees the way this money has been spent: the Winter Garden, the Railway Station, Fargate’s original pedestrianisation, the Cathedral modernisation, the Peace Gardens, the Millennium Gallery etc.

Similar schemes and new access roads from the old pit villages, giving access to the motorway system, can be seen across the whole of South Yorkshire, none of which would have happened without the underpinning of EU funding.

We have actually done very well out of the EU from our local contribution to the “club”.

We can’t rely on a national government that reduces funding to South Yorkshire year on year to replace this support.

Veronica Hardstaff

Northfield Court, S10