29 MARCH 1975, Page 4

Market debate

Sir: As the Prime Minister comes off his Common Market fence following the -fundamental (of course, he was joking!) re-negotiations" he would do well to heed this extract from a speech on the subject:

"In ninety-three legislative words, the safeguards gained after centuries of constitutional struggle, and even bloody civil wars, were swept aside by a provision that said simply that hereafter anything enacted by the EEC automatically becomes British law, annulling any laws that were inconsistent, without debate. We have sold, wit)hardly a murmur from the media, ou constitutional birthright for a mess of highly problematical economic pottage."

The speaker? Yes — right first time: The Rt Hon J. Harold Wilson MP speaking to the Parliamentary Press Gallery on January 20, 1973. Need I say more?

H. J. Yates 14 Royal Crescent Court, Filey, North Yorkshire