IN ONE of the most prominent places in Lancaster we have blatant evidence of the scale of deception which is endemic in the European Union and perpetrated all over Britain.

In Dalton Square there is the EU logo of stars above the claim 'Project partly financed by the EU'. In fact every penny of the money for this and all such projects in the UK is supplied by the British taxpayer.

This is because our gross annual contribution to the EU is £13,121 million and only £8,310 million of this is returned - with many strings attached.

We, therefore, make an annual donation of £4,811 million to our EU partners (Source: Table 9.2 row 15 UK balance of payments, The Pink Book 2004, Office of National Statistics).

If under pressure in Brussels, currently particularly from France - which contributes a mere £2,000 million net per year - we were stupid enough to allow the legitimate UK rebate to be snatched away, our annual British present to the EU would rise to £7,811 million.

And this is from a country whose infrastructure, NHS, education and so on is derided by our EU partners, including those who refuse to give up their mendicant status to help reduce extravagance.

Thus prosperously developed Spain still insists on receiving an annual handout of £7,000 million - ostensibly from the EU and its displayed logo but partly financed by us.

C Francis Warren, Lancaster.