Norway can give us hope

SIR – Your readers may wonder why Norway features in the letters page. It’s because Norway is not in the EU but is in the single market. So it’s a useful alternative for the UK that answers the ‘Remain’ charge that it’s a risk to vote ‘leave’. Because we are the world’s fifth largest economy we can actually get an even better deal that Norway’s.

Norwegian Left Party Euro-fanatic Krister Halvorsen is trying to fool us Brits in our referendum (letter May 26). The European Free Trade Association Secretariat states that Norway is bound by far fewer regulations than the UK is. He lets the cat of our the bag when he says the elites of both main Norwegian parties support EU membership. Our party leaders are just like them.They want to feel important by sitting at the table with other leaders to build ‘a country called Europe’.

What he deliberately fails to mention is that the sensible Norwegian people have twice voted not to join the EU, and opposition to ever joining now runs at 70 per cent. Like in Norway, here in Britain it is ordinary people against the same-thinking elites in both government and opposition parties.

Ordinary Norwegian people are setting us a good example that we can follow.

Francis Lankester

Worcester

Resentment in wealthy UK

SIR – We are repeatedly assured that Britain is the fifth richest country in the world, and that we need further immigration to ensure our continuing wealth. However, when it comes to our limited supply of health care, school places and housing, British people and immigrants are left to compete, causing much resentment among ordinary people, because there is ‘no money’ to cater for the needs of a changing population.

So rich and yet so poor? Surely something wrong here?

Derek Fearnside

Worcester

EU claims are misguided

SIR – Will Richards (Letters, 3/6/16) turns out to be another Brexiteer who fails to see the glaring contradiction in his own posture. He complains that our taxes are used “by the EU to promote itself”, but then addresses, at length, our alleged ignorance of EU governance structures. Something here does not add up, does it?

As to democracy, EU Commissioners are chosen and accountable to the European Parliament in exactly the same way as the British cabinet is in Westminster. We do not directly elect members of our cabinet, but to say that these are actually unelected would be silly, would it not? As in Westminster, the European Parliament has the right to propose and block legislation, and, in fact, has much more power than our British parliament in this regard. Overwhelmingly, UK MEPs and the UK parliament have been on the side of European legislation (contrary to the impression often given).

Moving on to Kevin Drinkwater’s contribution of the same date, the meaningful amount which we contribute to the EU is, surely, the NET one, and this is much less than the £350m bandied about, unscrupulously, by Brexit campaigners and about which the UK Statistics Authority has, unusually, made repeated complaints. The likely true figure lies somewhere between £136M (the UK SA) and £110M (The Treasury Select Committee, no less). Either way, it represents substantially less than one per-cent of our total public expenditure, and is a tiny fraction of what the NHS costs each week.

We need to be quite clear: our UK government’s self-fulfilling policy of austerity is entirely responsible for the pressures on our public services, and any hope that Brexit could improve our NHS (rather, that is, than do it serious damage) is fantasy.

David Barlow

Worcester

PM struggled in TV debate

SIR – I watched the TV Referendum debate last night. My impression of Mr Cameron was that he should seek better advisers, too many “wannas” and “gonnas”, not cool, too many declarations of so-called facts such as the economy will suffer, jobs will be lost which ought to be phrased as “it may be that” to represent the (scare)speculation that it really is.

No points either for failing/opting not to answer the prescient question from someone expressing concern over how the UK’s justice system is compromised by being a member – European judges can overrule what our judges might have declared.

Mercifully no promises this time of a Third World War.

I was not surprised by this performance.

Wendy Hands

Upton-upon-Severn

Trading will not be easy

SIR – Among the many myths that the Brexit brigade peddle is that all will be well and that in the event of withdrawal come June 24 we will continue to trade with EU countries without hindrance or penalties in the form of tariffs.

In theory this may eventually happen but it is a very complex process. Japan first raised the possibility of a bilateral trade deal back in 2003 and formal negotiations commenced in 2008 yet still eight years later no formal treaty has been signed. I’m afraid that the Brexiteers are being delusional and simplistic.

Japan is also, as far as this country is concerned, an object lesson regarding what EU membership can bring in the way of benefits. In their quest to have a European base over 1,000 Japanese firms have set up their European bases in the UK. These range from the big players such as Nissan, Toyota, Honda, and Mazak to a plethora of small and medium size firms and they directly employ 140,000 people and probably as many again in the supply chain. To leave the EU would have a detrimental effect on this scale of inward investment. It is with this in mind that I will be voting to remain.

Clive Smith

Malvern

Let’s control our destiny

SIR – The Leave camp is certainly correct when they say we get some rebates from Europe which cuts our contribution down to a net loss of only £160m per WEEK. It’s does not negate the fact that we still have to pay that £350m a year and that the rebates are also variable.

One other thing they dislike talking about is our complete lack of sovereignty and democratic processes. We have to accept rules and laws that are made up by totally unelected commissioners. We argued and fought for hundreds of years to keep our democracy and the fact that we can rid ourselves of those we elect if they do not perform. It is so wrong to say that we have more workers protection in the EU. Who was the first to give women the vote and introduce workers’ unions.

Another thing they refuse to talk about is the fact that after the election if they win then negotiations will start immediately for entry into the Euro and full membership of the European community. Both Westminster and Brussels will take it as a mandate for further integration. They obviously refuse to discuss this matter. If they do win then there will be nothing surer than a total ‘give in’ to Europe. And isn’t it strange that they will not announce the make up of the new European military until after the referendum. What are we voting for? A complete surrender to Europe or control of our own destiny?

Frank Lloyd

Worcester

Expat or an immigrant?

SIR – I was interested in your choice of language in an article in today’s Worcester News. In the story of a Droitwich woman who had moved to Turkey, you described her as an “expat”. Would you have described a Turkish person moving to Droitwich as an expat or an immigrant?

Just wondering.

SUE JOHNS

Ombersley

Border force is too weak

SIR – How can Britain’s border force have just three patrol boats to protect its 7,000 miles of coastline? And many lookout posts are manned by volunteers on part-time hours.

Now we hear 18 Albanians had to be rescued from the channel of Kent, and there are loads of boatloads filled with migrants landing on the coasts in the south east of England-with some paying £12,000, so how can these be refugees?

And by EU law we will surely be stopped from returning them, and have to hand then benefits, free health care and housing to say the least. These people have obviously refused to register in any of the countries they have passed through, making a b-line for hotel UK, as we welcome them with open arms and make them wealthy. And you can be sure the French are turning a big blind eye to the issue.

G B Dipper

Leominster