Any trade deal with the EU must preserve Britain’s financial freedom

SIR – We voted, by a democratic majority, to rid ourselves of the shackles of the EU. It is unacceptable to suggest that we should continue to waste billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on this organisation by paying for access to the single market (report, December 2).

Our access benefits both us and the EU family of trading nations, but any interference with this will cost them more than it will us.

Britain has more to gain from resorting to World Trade Organisation tariffs, as the EU exports more to Britain than it imports from us. Hence we would collect more duty from the EU than we would have to pay.

As for the supposed threat to London’s position as a financial centre, I do not believe the rest of the world will be rushing to put their money into the shambolic eurozone. T T Weller Brightwalton, Berkshire SIR – Christopher Booker (Review, November 27) castigates MPs who want Brexit to include leaving the single market.

He tells us that, if we remain in the European Economic Area, we will be subject to only a fraction of the EU’s laws. He goes on to say we “could hope” to gain some control over immigration.

What? Hope that EU mandarins will roll over and grant us something that they’ve repeatedly said is nonnegotiable on the grounds that other countries would want it too?

All the sabre-rattling from EU mandarins suggests that Mr Booker’s hope is misplaced. I voted Brexit for certainty, not hope, that we would regain legal sovereignty and control of our borders. Anything else is a fudge. Terry Lloyd Darley Abbey, Derbyshire SIR – Simon Heffer (Review, November 27) derides those who want to remain in the EU.

He talks sneeringly of “liberals” and politicians from the past, such as Sir John Major. But those politicians have wisdom to impart. The Brexiteers say the people have spoken – and, in the name of democracy, Theresa May is hurrying us to the departure gate. But our democracy is a two-stage process. We elect politicians and they take decisions for the country as a whole, weighing the facts and not listening only to those who shout loudest.

Brexiteers should reflect that almost as many voted to stay, and all those who voted amount to less than half of the men, women and children who will be affected. Mr Heffer maintains that those who voted to leave knew what they wanted, and that is probably true. However, many were motivated by one issue which concerned them, rather than the wider consequences.

Mr Heffer suggests that, if we want to belong to a trading bloc, then perhaps we should look elsewhere. But if we turn our backs on Europe, we turn our backs on those whose civilisation we share. In this dangerous world, it is better to hang together. Ross Charlton Oxted, Surrey