Madam,

Mr MacMaster (last week’s Cambrian News) says he found my letter of 10 March exasperating. My response to his is one of incredulity. It is not true that Britain does not control its borders. Has he not experienced the long queues at Passport Control at our airports when returning from holiday? Every EU country has the right to impose transitional arrangements for immigrants from countries joining the EU. The British Government has recently imposed much stricter controls on the im-migration of students and others coming to study and work here, much to the detriment of our universities and businesses.

It is not true that the EU costs Britain £50m a day. This figure has recently been denounced as a gross exaggeration by independent experts. The net cost is equivalent to 26p per person per day. Therefore there will not a magical huge windfall if we leave the EU to spend on other things. The “saving” will quickly get spent on unemployment benefits given the huge risks to jobs on leaving the EU.

It is not true that Britain is governed from Brussels. Who introduced the poll tax, the bedroom tax, raised VAT and made cuts to welfare benefits to the disabled and poorest in Britain? It wasn’t the EU. Who will decide whether to replace Trident? It won’t be the EU. These deci-sions and many are made in Westminster. We can, however, be grateful to the European Parliament for our cleaner beaches, cleaner air, safer working conditions, improved maternity and paternity leave, longer holidays and cheaper roaming charges for using your mobile phone on the continent.

I don’t pretend that the EU is perfect. It needs further reform.

Yours etc

Dr David Naylor

Heol y Bryn

Harlech.