From Mark Jennings

SIR. One reads the anti-European rants of the UK Independence Party with increasing incredulity.

UKIP's limited analysis totally fails to address the clear loss of British sovereignty as a result of the "special relationship" with the United States.

The Blair administration's compliance to the foreign policy demands of the Bush administration demonstrates the extent to which British foreign policy is now dictated by the State Department in Washington.

Further evidence of US meddling in Britain's domestic affairs is demonstrated by the 2003 Extradition Act, which allows British citizens to be extradited to the United States in the total absence of prima-facie evidence. No such arrangement applies in cases where the British authorities might wish to extradite a US citizen to the UK.

Significantly, UKIP's website has links to US publications that gleefully analyse the forthcoming demise of Europe as a power bloc able to challenge US imperial ambitions. Clearly UKIP is happy for Britain to be run de-facto by Washington, if not by Brussels.

MARK JENNINGS Willingham Way Kingston