SIR - The health commissioner of the European Union says he would enforce the right of patients to travel to any of the 25 European Union countries.

It is feared that an upsurge in health tourism will place a huge burden on the National Health Service.

Already thousands of mothers-to-be arrive in the United Kingdom to give birth every year. They are meant to pay for their care but most disappear after the baby is born leaving the NHS saddled with debt.

In London new mothers represented the majority of 14,383 foreign patients treated free on the NHS at a cost of more than £19 million.

I get the impression from letters to the T&A that some people still think we are a sovereign nation!

T Hill, Harbour Crescent, Bradford