IN reply to Francis Lankester (You Say, July 19), more than half Britain's visible trade is with the rest of the EU. A small proportion of involved exports is re-exported through Rotterdam, which shows the importance of the Netherlands city to the UK.
Inward investment into the UK, apart from European money, comes from USA, Japan and South Korea mainly. Such companies come here in order to facilitate their dealings with the continental EU. If we do not embrace the euro such inward investment will cease.
Many Europeans speak English, the language of commerce, better then the British.
We shall have manufacturing meltdown, high-profile closures, huge job losses and nemesis if we do not join the single currency speedily, whatever the likes of Paul Sykes and Lord Tebbit may say. The midnight hour approaches.
Apart from economic concerns we must also consider demographic and geographical factors.
Western Europe, Britain included, has a very low birthrate. Yet we live in a world of giants. The population of India is one billion, that of China, 1.3 billion. Russia extends over 6.6 million square miles. The USA has 260 million people in nearly four million square miles.
The UK has just 58 million squashed into 94,000 square miles. In years to come, the individual states of the EU will have little impact. Only as a combination will they have any importance.
D E MARGRETT,
Rowan Court,
Worcester.
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