The recent televised exchanges between UKIP’s Nigel Farage and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg were so poor that I refuse to dignify them by calling them “debates”. Farage gave his usual blend of populist patriotism (‘the last refuge of a scoundrel’) and red-neck anti-immigrant rants that belong inside a white conically shaped hat and mask. As for Nick Clegg, the best he could do was a version of “it’s the economy, stupid”.

As a supporter of Britain’s membership of the EU, I feel very let down by Clegg’s one-club approach.

The EU is also about peace in Europe which we have enjoyed now for nearly 70 years, the Balkans excepted. While the experience of wars between European states is outside that of the post-war generation, anyone who thinks that it could never happen again does not understand history or the aggressive competitive global influences at work. Divisions between European states over America’s confrontational attitude towards Russia over the Ukraine lie just below the surface. During the run-up to the Iraq war, Tony Blair managed to split Europe between pro- and anti-war states.

The EU is also about a social dimension which the main UK parties want reformed (ie buried) in the interests of exploitation and profits in a race to the bottom. The European Social Model should be developed, not abolished

The EU is an expression of common interest and security. Leaving it will do untold damage.

Peter Nielsen

Worcester.