We had a poor deal with EU and paid dearly for it

IN his letter of April 18, councillor Tony Vickers describes the effects of Brexit as “shameful”.

Far more shameful were (for instance) the neutralisation by national vetoes of the 2006 Bolkestein Directive on services and the 2004 Takeover Directive, in both of which the UK had a clear interest, the EU’s continued structural bias in favour of French farming and the German manufacturing, ratification of the 2009 Treaty of Lisbon (with its substantial transfer of powers to the EU) without national referenda, failure to control the flow of immigrants as they crossed EU territory towards the French coast, the open contempt with which Angela Merkel treated both David Cameron and Theresa May on their respective visits to her, and the failure by many European states to invest adequately in defence.

Since we left the EU, a recent enquiry by Le Monde has shown that 163 of the 704 MEPs have been involved in some form of inappropriate behaviour, corruption or fraud, and the EU has commenced legal proceedings against a British ban, for the purpose of safeguarding vulnerable seabird populations, on sand eel fishing in British waters.

In summary, we had a poor deal and paid much too much for it. Fortunately, the French have begun to appreciate the role that the UK can play in restoration of a stable world order, which is now under such threat from Putin and others and is essential for our safety and prosperity.

They may conclude that a working relation with the UK may be as important to them as the relation that they have had with Germany which has controlled the EU up until now. ANTHONY PICK

Andover Road

Newbury