Want out of the EU

Sir,

Nicola Sturgeon would have us believe that we all want to remain cemented to the EU. Well, I have news for her, and all her Brussels obsessed companions: no we don’t. No, I am not obsessed with independence and I am not obsessed with the EU, one of the most corrupt institutions in the whole of Europe. Politicians may not be discerning, but ordinary people like us are.

Why should I trust an institution that has not been given a clean bill of health by the European Court of Auditors for 21 years in a row? While the EU will mesmerise you with incredulous facts and figures, be assured they won’t tell you that they misspent 5.5 billion euros in 2013, 6.3 billion euros in 2014 and 5 billion euros in 2015! Even their own auditors don’t trust them, following the mega billions they wastefully squander. And that misspent dosh includes our money as well.

Taking account of the money that comes back and the aid spending, Britain last year gave almost £6.5 billion to the EU that would otherwise not have been paid out if we were not members of their club. That’s almost £18 million a day too much. We desperately need all these pounds to spend on vital lifeline services between John O'Groats through to Land’s End, rather than misspend it as the EU clearly does.

I also wonder how many people know that, because of the EU, we have given up to be a proper democratic nation. Membership of the European Union is undemocratic because the European Commission, which is unelected, has the monopoly of proposing all EU legislation which it does in secret. It also has the power to issue regulations which are automatically binding in all member states. Yes, that means that we can’t change a single European law through the ballet box, and that is wrong, wrong, wrong.

To those who idiotically tell us that it is safer to stay in the European Union, can I assuredly tell them they are also 100% wrong. At this very moment the EU is facing a crisis over its currency and economy, and a similar one over ‘freedom of movement’ and security. The risk of staying in is considerable not just for our economy, but increasingly for our national security and democracy. Don’t let the ‘stay-inners’ tell you otherwise, as they inevitably will through the mountain of misinformation that will come filtering through your letterbox over the next few months.

The case for the UK remaining in the EU will be made by the same people who assured us that Britain should ditch the pound sterling for the euro. They were wrong then. They are wrong now. It is no coincidence that EU countries which have retained their own currency - the zloty in Poland, the kroner in Sweden, the pound in the UK - are doing better than the countries that labour under the dead weight of the euro. The miserable euro doesn't work, just ask the crumbling economies of Spain and Greece and they’ll very quickly tell you why.

There is no doubt that our country can successfully go it alone. If rich Norway can do it, so can the UK. While Norway controls everything within its own borders, it also trades - very successfully - with the EU without being in it. It also controls its own agriculture and keeps its fish, rather than being bound by irrational EU quotas.

Neither do we want to be bound and strangled by EU regulations, rules and laws made up in Brussels. We want out and we want out now. To all, vote - a mach as an EU.

Mr Donald J Morrison

85 Old Edinburgh Road

Inverness

Letter: Want out of the EU

31 March 2016