Ian Phillips, of Harbertonford, writes:
A debate on the EU referendum was held at The Oak in South Brent on the evening of April 25. The case for Brexit was put by Justin Haque and Alan Langmaid of Grassroots Out and for Bremain, ie staying in the EU, by Cllr Julian Brazil and Anthony Power of the Lib Dems.
The Bremainers were quick to agree that the EU was heavily flawed. They acknowledged that, despite decades of trying to use its influence, Britain had failed to achieve any significant change to EU laws. In his summing up, Cllr Brazil said we should still stay on in the EU and use all our wonderful British democratic tradition and philosophy to influence it to reform. What kind of contradictory nonsense is this?
Another point was the Bremainers’ belief that, whatever the cost, we have to remain an EU member to prevent a further war in Europe. Do they seriously think that, if we left the EU, Britain might declare war on another European country? Or is it that Britain’s membership in some magic way prevents the other EU states warring among themselves?
Even if the whole idea wasn’t completely ludicrous, we have the strength of the Nato alliance, established over many decades, to underwrite peaceful relations in Europe. Scaring the public that we have to pay money to the EU every year or there might be a war is little short of the psychology of the ‘protection racket’.
Anyone seeking sound arguments on the issues can now find ‘version three’ of the frequently asked questions by Gerard Batten MEP. He takes 40 questions and backs up his answers with facts and figures. You can find the points of particular interest with the help of a contents list.
Just type ‘gerardbattenmep. co.uk’ into Google. He has put together a really excellent and understandable paper.