SIR – Joy Squires (Worcester News, February 1) says David Cameron’s EU referendum promise is bad for UK business.

I disagree strongly with her, and would say that staying in is actually much more of a threat. We run a trade deficit with the EU, making us a major export market, and EU countries are unlikely to want to put their exports to us at risk.

Norway and Switzerland are in Europe and they seem to have no problems trading with EU countries, while being outside the EU is no great hindrance to the likes of the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans.

Staying in the EU means we carry on contributing billions which we could be spending on services and investment we desperately need. We are also exposed to the turmoil in the eurozone, and the effects of creeping political union.

We should be close allies and trading partners with our European friends, but we do not need to be in the EU to achieve that.

Labour left the economy in a mess, doing very little for manufacturing while in power, so it is ill-placed to claim to speak for industry and claim to understand its needs now.

STEVE DAVIS

Worcester UKIP