Europe needs us as much as we need it

ONE year to Brexit and the radio waves were red hot on the subject this morning.

I couldn’t have been the only one to detect a certain irony in the fact that the BBC Wales broadcast was from a breakfast club in Cwm. Not the best place, one would have thought, to expound the wonders and benefits of our membership of the EU. Apart from some quite bitter and unnecessary references to the “older generation”, many of the calls supporting “remain” were blatant self-interest.

In the 2016 referendum, 17 out of 22 local authorities in Wales voted “Leave”. Would there have been such disrupting tactics and calls for a second referendum if the vote had gone in favour of “remain”? I very much doubt it.

What confidence could anyone have in future elections if those with enough power and “clout” could overturn the result? David Cameron asked for change and was rebuffed.

The EU is on the march to a superstate. It has many problems and does hubris very well. I would much prefer our politicians to take a harder line with our European neighbours.

Peope have always found it mutually beneficial to co-operate and where there is money to be made, they always will. I wish some of the EU’s most ardent fans would realise that Europe needs us as much as we need them but not at the cost of giving this country away. H Thomas Neath