EU is not perfect but it’s not to blame for UK woes

I AM afraid JC Butterfield is a bit late with his advice (‘Join the Commonwealth’, Letters, October 17) as Nigel Farage has beaten him to it.

Like Nigel, JC doesn’t know much about the Border between Northern

Ireland and the Republic, otherwise he might have seen it didn’t go as well after 1920 as he seems to think. Thankfully, the Good Friday Agreement changed that.

The island of Ireland has done very well from being in the EU, particularly the Republic. Without the EU, the Republic would not have been able to become one of the UK’s biggest export markets.

The Brexiteers, in order to Make Britain Great Again, prefer the markets of the Commonwealth and the wider world to the markets within the EU. Much better to have to send goods half-way around the world than deal with the intransigent Europeans. Of course, the EU countries will lose out, but the UK won’t be without its losses either. Surely the EU will be chasing the same markets?

We know the EU is not perfect but, on the whole, it has been good for many aspects of life throughout the continent, and I don’t think it can be blamed for all of the UK’s woes. Tom Rourke Dublin