On behalf of the West Kent Branch of the Democracy Movement, I wish to draw the attention of your readers to the following: We are not a political party and we seek only to inform the public on a most important issue which affects us all. Our campaign to keep the pound has been welcomed by nearly every major town in west Kent where local councils have freely given their consent to the presence of our stall in high street locations.

In April, we decided to approach Bexleyheath Council for permission to put a stall in The Broadway on June 7. Before making a formal request, we established the person to contact was Barry Quigley, town centre manager, to whom we wrote. After three weeks’ delay we were informed it was not Mr Quigley’s responsibility and that we should contact David Palmer-Barnes who, when we phoned a week later, said he could give us no answer but John Payne must see our letter. On May 22, more than a month after our initial request, Mr Payne said on the phone he refused it on the grounds our business is political. We can only conclude, therefore, the council is at pains to prevent us from putting our message across to Bexleyheath residents.

Could this be anything to do with the difficulty the Government is experiencing in trying to convince the voting public adopting the Euro would be beneficial to this country when all the indications are to the contrary?

Josephine Wilkins Hon secretary West Kent Branch Democracy Movement