EU has provided peace and security

SO Diana Shovell wonders what our ‘dear boys’ who gave their lives in two world wars would think of the EU .

I’m sure they would rejoice that we have enjoyed more than 70 years of peace since the end of WW2.

This is due, in no small measure, to the vision of forward-thinking statesmen, led by Churchill, who realised future war in Europe could only be avoided by the development of a ‘kind of United States of Europe’

(Churchill’s words), based on a common desire to eliminate the nationalism and self-interest of individual states, and putting the interests of Europe as a whole first. Part of this required the richer nations to support the poorer countries to allow them to reach similar standards of wealth and status.

In this respect, these dear boys did not die for nothing because they would now be able to move and work freely across the EU, enjoying the same humanitarian liberties we enjoy here, which is what they fought for in the first place. They would be appalled, as I am, that we are now prepared to throw all this away, and de-stabilise Europe as a whole for isolationist and nationalist purposes. Having pretty well demolished national barriers, do we now really want to re-build them?

As for the EU ruling ‘our Great Britain’ the amount of legislation stemming from Europe is miniscule, and much of it, eg environmental, human rights, animal welfare, was originally proposed by the UK. The small loss of sovereignty and the net cost of membership is insignificant compared with the cost of the wars and carnage of centuries of conflict, and is a small price to pay for the peace and security the EU has helped to provide.

I am 77 and just remember being taken from my cot and carried to the Anderson shelter in our neighbour’s garden, and the sound of sirens and warplanes in the skies over Plymouth during the Blitz. What makes me shed tears is the prospect that my children’s children might face a similar future because of the growth of Brexit-like fervour throughout Europe.

Stuart Le Grice Northam, Devon