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| We voted for free trade in 1975, nothing less and nothing more | We voted for free trade in 1975, nothing less and nothing more |
| (about 19 hours later) | |
| Sun 1 Oct 2017 00.07 BST | |
| Last modified on Sat 2 Dec 2017 02.39 GMT | |
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| In the 1975 European Economic Community referendum I voted yes. At the time, I was a 30-year-old director of a small manufacturing company in Daventry that desperately wanted to get involved with the European export market. | In the 1975 European Economic Community referendum I voted yes. At the time, I was a 30-year-old director of a small manufacturing company in Daventry that desperately wanted to get involved with the European export market. |
| If I wanted to jump into my car and drive around Europe demonstrating my wares, I had to apply for a carnet that allowed me into European countries on a temporary basis without having to pay any import duties on the goods in my vehicle. At every customs point, I had to join a long queue to get my entry into the next country logged and my carnet endorsed. This was torment. If one succeeded in getting an order, endless documentation ensued. By the time one finally got paid, one really wondered if it had been worth the effort. But then along came the EEC. Brilliant – no more customs, a free trade zone. Exactly what we wanted – nothing more, nothing less. | If I wanted to jump into my car and drive around Europe demonstrating my wares, I had to apply for a carnet that allowed me into European countries on a temporary basis without having to pay any import duties on the goods in my vehicle. At every customs point, I had to join a long queue to get my entry into the next country logged and my carnet endorsed. This was torment. If one succeeded in getting an order, endless documentation ensued. By the time one finally got paid, one really wondered if it had been worth the effort. But then along came the EEC. Brilliant – no more customs, a free trade zone. Exactly what we wanted – nothing more, nothing less. |
| I voted to come out of the EU. I do not want to come out of the EEC. It’s the U bit I object to and all the governing ambitions of a federal Europe. None of us voted for the EU – we weren’t given the opportunity.Michael JohnsonNorthampton | I voted to come out of the EU. I do not want to come out of the EEC. It’s the U bit I object to and all the governing ambitions of a federal Europe. None of us voted for the EU – we weren’t given the opportunity.Michael JohnsonNorthampton |
| Your pages chart the divisions in our society, with few pointers healing them. Clearly both main parties are as divided as the nation. Frequent references to “the will of the people” are an abdication of responsibility. Meanwhile, the exasperated public sees the root causes of the division unaddressed (Letters). | Your pages chart the divisions in our society, with few pointers healing them. Clearly both main parties are as divided as the nation. Frequent references to “the will of the people” are an abdication of responsibility. Meanwhile, the exasperated public sees the root causes of the division unaddressed (Letters). |
| Radical leadership is needed to unite the country, but is hard to perceive at the moment. Rather than repeatedly giving credence to the Brexit referendum, which highlighted the almost 50/50 split, we should be going back to the people for a solution. A referendum bill requiring a clear unequivocal decision (say 60%) is required. If necessary, this might promote a series of referendums, held every three months, until the country decides. | Radical leadership is needed to unite the country, but is hard to perceive at the moment. Rather than repeatedly giving credence to the Brexit referendum, which highlighted the almost 50/50 split, we should be going back to the people for a solution. A referendum bill requiring a clear unequivocal decision (say 60%) is required. If necessary, this might promote a series of referendums, held every three months, until the country decides. |
| The voters are better educated now as to the consequences, costs and benefits of their choice. We should trust them. Allowing disunity to continue will open the door to ever more extreme factions exploiting public dissatisfaction.Jon ChoppinBlandford ForumDorset | The voters are better educated now as to the consequences, costs and benefits of their choice. We should trust them. Allowing disunity to continue will open the door to ever more extreme factions exploiting public dissatisfaction.Jon ChoppinBlandford ForumDorset |
| I cannot agree with Will Hutton that there is an inexorable political gravity at work that is leading Britain towards a ‘’hard Brexit’’ and that there is no creative middle way (“Mrs May’s falsehoods are designed only to keep her party together’’, Comment). Certainly for Brexit to mean Brexit Britain must pull out of the single market and relinquish the four freedoms, including that of freedom of movement, so as to take control of her borders. The much-vaunted Norwegian option of remaining part of the European Economic Area so as to enable Britain to remain a member of the single market must be rejected as it would dilute Brexit to the point that it would be worse than meaningless by leading to the worst of both worlds. | I cannot agree with Will Hutton that there is an inexorable political gravity at work that is leading Britain towards a ‘’hard Brexit’’ and that there is no creative middle way (“Mrs May’s falsehoods are designed only to keep her party together’’, Comment). Certainly for Brexit to mean Brexit Britain must pull out of the single market and relinquish the four freedoms, including that of freedom of movement, so as to take control of her borders. The much-vaunted Norwegian option of remaining part of the European Economic Area so as to enable Britain to remain a member of the single market must be rejected as it would dilute Brexit to the point that it would be worse than meaningless by leading to the worst of both worlds. |
| There is, however, another option that would allow Britain to forge a middle way and that is to broadly follow the route taken by Switzerland, which would entail Britain leaving both the EU and the EEA and rejoining the European Free Trade Association alongside Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. | There is, however, another option that would allow Britain to forge a middle way and that is to broadly follow the route taken by Switzerland, which would entail Britain leaving both the EU and the EEA and rejoining the European Free Trade Association alongside Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. |
| Efta is a looser organisation than the EU, concentrating more on the removal of trade barriers than on the overall co-ordination of economic policy.David LockwoodSt HelensMerseyside | Efta is a looser organisation than the EU, concentrating more on the removal of trade barriers than on the overall co-ordination of economic policy.David LockwoodSt HelensMerseyside |
| Brexit | |
| The big issue | |
| European Union | |
| Foreign policy | |
| letters | |
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