The European Commission enforces or breaks rules to fit its convenience

SIR – The EU Commission enforces various treaty obligations, or bends, ignores and breaks them, when convenient to do so.

It was convenient to enforce rules against Greece and prevent the IMF from writing off its bad debts. It was convenient to break rules and allow Germany a preferential tariff over Poland in a recent energy settlement.

It is convenient to ignore single market rules and merely rebuke several eastern EU states erecting barriers against immigrants. It is convenient to sidestep single-market rules on the border of Cyprus and Turkey. It is convenient to ignore growth and stability rules on debt and budget denominators in many euro-using countries (Germany, Greece and Italy most notably).

It is also convenient for the Commission to threaten and enforce rigidly single market rules against Britain in order to maximise its bargaining position.

But any supermarket fruit and vegetable counter demonstrates that non-eu countries competitively export to the United Kingdom, under World Trade Organisation rules, without any of the Commission’s threatened 50-mile customs queues or mountains of documentation. Such disruption of trade will only result if the Commission finds it convenient. Dr Barrie Craven

Professor James Tooley

Newcastle University

SIR – At the time of the EU referendum in 2016, the Leave side presented a range of risks that British people, businesses and the economy would face if we remained members. This appeared a positive and successful approach and may well have contributed to the final result.

Two years later, this approach seems to have been dropped. I don’t hear about the risks of our remaining in the EU.

It is not a risk-free choice. We know that our net payment of billions of pounds into the EU budget would continue, but what about the costs of the EU’S continued expansion? Or the risk of EU diplomacy interfering with ours as we help pay for new EU embassies round the world? Or the risk of diluting Nato as the EU develops its own military force and drags us into it?

Remainers seem to think that there would be no risks in our staying in the EU, and so we would be better off remaining. But is this true? If it isn’t, why don’t we hear about it – loudly? Leonard Clark

Bristol

SIR – It’s a bit rich being lectured by Nick Timothy (Comment, June 28). But for his calamitous sway over the last Tory manifesto, Theresa May might have a working majority of loyal Conservative MPS.

His interventions have already confined Mrs May to history, together with her lukewarm approach to negotiating a genuine Brexit. We all deserve better. John Naylor

London SW20