FOR virulent anti-Europeans like Brian Derbyshire (Letters, October 30) it often looks as if any stick is good enough to beat Europe with.

In truth, the imminent crisis in Health Service funding will be entirely unaffected by whether or not we join the euro, and, like many other European countries, it is a problem we will have to deal with whether or not we join. There are two factors in the Health Service problem. The first is that, with improvements in medical science, diet, and social care, people are living longer (and, having turned 60 myself, I'll vote for that.) But as they grow older, they frequently need medical care, and that costs money.

The second factor is that family sizes have been getting smaller for several decades. This means that the number of young adults coming out of the educational system, and entering the world of economic activity and wealth creation, is getting steadily smaller. This, in turn, means that we are trying to support a growing demand for health care on the back of a shrinking economic base. This is not the end of the world. Apart from rationing the amount of health care provided, which would be politically unacceptable, the Government will have three options. Firstly, it can raise the level of NHS contributions. Secondly, it could support more generously out of general taxation. Thirdly, it could, if it chose, increase the number of economically active young adults by allowing selective immigration, where prospective immigrants have scarce job skills to offer. None of these involve borrowing money.

If the Government tried to bridge the funding gap by borrowing when it did not have a new income stream to fund the increasing debt, all that would happen is that increasing amounts of NHS contributions would go to paying interest charges, and diminishing amounts to providing service. So it won't happen.

Where governments do borrow, it is either to fund long term investment in buildings and equipment, or occasionally to increase spending programmes in order to counter recession in the economy. This is good old-fashioned Keynesian economics, and is not prohibited by European rules. The Inflation Stability Pact, which requires national borrowing to be limited to three per cent of GDP, is a long-term requirement over time; it does not have to apply all of the time, and both France and Germany are currently outside the three per cent limit.

Peter Johnston

Kendal Road

Bolton