No way should the UK rejoin the EU

IT may come as a shock to J Tomlinson, but Britain traded quite successfully for hundreds, even thousands, of years without the heavy hand of the EU bureaucrats.

Even people my age can recall companies making a very good living trading across most of the world, including Europe, without having to be told what they could or couldn’t do by the European Union.

Britain, as one of the few ‘net contributors’ to the EU, has seen the European begging bowl benefit countries on the other side of the channel to the detriment of Britain.

Before people spout rubbish along the lines of projects funded by the EU over here, along with their massive advertising boards, don’t forget what ‘net contributor’ means.

I shall never forget the effects of the then British Government trying to join the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) in 1992 in their attempt to align with the EU. Look it up if you are too young to remember.

People are struggling now to pay mortgages with the current interest rates, but the bank rate then was around 15%!

As a direct result, my small business lost 75% of its customer base, as every single day people lost their homes, employment – and many lost their businesses also.

The current problems regarding exiting the EU are caused by the very poor terms negotiated by politicians and civil servants on both sides of the channel, as they put their own self-interest above the majority who voted to leave.

In my opinion, if we had had a clean break in 2016 and adopted World Trade Organisation rules, by now we would be much better off. It would have still allowed individual agreements between countries, but without EU interference!

I am sorry for J Tomlinson’s company, but, as the vote to leave showed, a lot of people have a far worse experience of EU membership.

Mike Butterfield Paignton, Devon