LETTER: Makes sense to stay in EU '˜club'

Boris may end up being the Prime Minister of a small weak country with a current account deficit making the existing situation look welcoming.

Reasons supporting the hypothesis are:

1 Economic. Costs would go up, existing migrant workers replaced by English ones paid the new living wage. This is not an EU requirement but is self-imposed, as are the environmental rules. This country has the least regulation according to the OECD. So Europe is not strangling us. Europe takes 50 per cent of our exports but we only take ten per cent of theirs; where is the need for us?

The pound has lost 20 cents against the Euro and will crash so bang go our holidays in Spain and if we leave what happens to two million Brits in Europe?

2 Immigration: Our retail, food and hospitals will get more costly or be completely understaffed.

Norway (which the ‘exits’ use to support their case) pays about 90 per cent per head of what we pay to the EU without a say. They abide by the rules set as they are not in the ‘club’.

They have the free movement of labour with other regulations and no say.

The immigration problem is a moral one exacerbated by the West not standing up to Putin, Assad and showing strength; hence if we left the EU, I suggest that NATO would be weakened and possible collapse along with the EU.

3 Enter ‘little England’: Great Britain had clout but that disappeared in the 60s. Back then we lead the world in aviation, nuclear power and science but, due largely to poor government by both parties, we lost this position.

However, we are in a club that has a high regard for influencing the rules and regulations.

Why throw this away so Boris can be the next PM and drive us even lower?

John Harmer

Up Marden

Chichester