Dear Editor
The recent article about so called EU myths was sadly unattributed (or did Phil Wilson MP have the run of the page?)
It raised four points:
SOVEREIGNTY
It was correctly stated that the EU makes 13.2% of our laws rather than 80% BUT it did not mention that when Regulations & Directives are included it comes to 62.1%
EUROPE
It was asserted that the EU is democratic because we elect MEP’s but as well as the European Parliament there is the Commission whose members are not elected but appointed by the Presidents of the Commission (who are themselves appointed) & it is the Commission which proposes new legislation. We do not elect the lawmakers
COST
The Treasury figure used was determined by George Osborne’s worst possible outcome rather than being independent. Gross membership costs us £18 Billion (Bn) but we hang onto our rebate of £5Bn (which is up for negotiation in 2020 & could be removed; it’s already been substantially reduced – thank you Mr Blair!) Also some £4.5Bn comes back to us but the EU decides how it is spent; infrastructure, subsidies etc. so the net cost is around £8.5Bn or just over £163 million per week
THE ALTERNATIVES
The only known alternative to being in the EU is to be out of it. The rest is conjecture and depends on whether your view is that of a “glass half full or glass half empty” person. The Norway & Sweden models were mentioned but combined their populations only amount to 23% of ours (15 million:65 million) so we’d have a great deal more clout in negotiating with the EU or indeed anybody else.
We import £10Bn more per month from the EU, on average, than we export to them. They will not be rushing to introduce prohibitive tariffs!
The reason why I will be voting Leave is purely down to Sovereignty; I can vote every 5 years to keep or remove my MP but that is not the case with the EU who can:
1. overrule our laws and Judges
2. tell us who can come in to this country and who must not leave
3. have 100% of our 5.4 million businesses hidebound by” red tape” when only 4% actually trade with the EU
Mr W K Winters