Madam,

I have read Patrick O’Brien’s column avidly for many years and mostly have agreed wholeheartedly with what he has written.

However, in his column of 7 July I think he has lost the plot a little.

Yes, Wales does benefit greatly from many millions of EU money. But this level of money is only guaranteed until 2020.

After that the unelected bureaucrats in Brussels will decide how much Wales will get in the future, if any. Or does Patrick have a magic crystal ball that tells the guaranteed future?

This, bearing in mind that there are likely to be more poorer countries in the EU by then and the increased investment/prosperity coming to Wales in the likes of TVR, Aston Martin and some call centres, to name but a few.

I don’t know how much of this is partly EU funded but I have not heard as yet of any of these changing their mind as a result of the referendum.

How is it that the EU is not protecting the UK (Wales in particular) steel industry from Chinese imports? Is it because there are bigger exporters from the EU to China – possibly Airbus, BMW, Mercedes and VW – again, to name but a few?

With regard to his “reckless leap into the unknown”, I would suggest that, after 2020, that comment has equal weight in or out of the EU.

Yours etc,

Richard Webster,

Park Avenue,

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