Sir - The Oxford Times reported last week on three areas where money was lacking to finance local needs. The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust said that it was facing an unexpected fall in income of around £2m, the government says it will not pay the £3.3m cost of the summer floods, and next year the city council needs to make savings of £5m.

How many people are aware, I wonder, of the fact that the total amounts here, around £10m a year, are equal to at most 18 hours of the yearly British contribution to the European Union. This figure is set to rise in the future when the Bill to approve an increase in Britain's contributions arrives in the House of Commons, as the UK Independence Party has been pointing out since Tony Blair approved the increase.

I would like to know whether Oxford's MPs intend to vote in favour of the Bill when the time comes and, if they intend to vote for it, how they can justify the huge cost of the EU while local needs go unmet.

Dr Peter Gardner, Chairman, UK Independence Party, Oxford