EARLIER this month, the Stroud News & Journal covered your EU debate at the Subscription Rooms.

One of the photographs in the report is captioned “Brexit supporter Chris Moore of Stroud Against the Cuts argued that the EU was a ‘rich man’s club’”.

We write as the elected committee of Stroud Against the Cuts to explain that though this is the view of some members, the organisation has not committed to either the Leave or Remain campaign.

Other members of Stroud Against the Cuts are not supporters of Brexit, and will vote for the UK to Remain in the EU. We do not believe a vote either way will free us from rule by a ‘rich man’s club’ – a description as true of the UK Government as of the EU.

We reject the way migration is being blamed for problems in this country that are caused by government policy towards the economy and public services (funding cuts, privatisation), particularly but not exclusively by those pushing a vote to Leave.

Further, we reject claims by both sides to have the interests of the NHS at heart. We find it laughable that (in the same issue) Stroud’s Conservative MP Neil Carmichael claims to be interested in what is best for the NHS (‘NHS will be better off staying in the EU’).

He and his Conservative government colleagues are responsible for the current crisis in the service, which is due to billions of pounds of cuts to funding and their continued attempts to waste money on making the NHS more like the terrible American system.

On the other hand, the claims that the NHS will be saved by a vote to Leave are equally without merit – we cannot trust the leaders of the Vote Leave campaign who have in the past made clear their opposition to the principles of their NHS and their desire to privatise it. The argument that migration is to blame for the problems in the NHS is false and xenophobic.

What is needed to reclaim our NHS is determined campaigning by health workers, patients and the public – as shown by the successful campaign to save Stroud’s Maternity services 10 years ago, and our own battle to defend local community health services from privatisation in 2011/12.

We’ll keep campaigning for our NHS whatever the result in the EU Referendum.

James Beecher, Hannah Basson, Christine Stockwell and Helen Prynne Elected committee of Stroud Against the Cuts True migrant crisis is still to happen YOU report Baroness Featherstone, speaking of the migrant crisis as saying ‘...the waves of misery of migration that will come from climate change will put this as nothing’. (‘Minister gives warning’, June 8.) There are two items of news that give support to that.

UN demographers predict that by 2100 the Sahel’s population will grow from 125 million to 650 million, this increase being 25 per cent greater than the current population of the EU, whereas the IPCC project that the region’s temperature will rise between 4.5 and 6.5 degrees, making it virtually uninhabitable. These two predictions are obviously incompatible. The migrant crisis therefore has scarcely begun.

Roger Plenty

Rodborough Hill