February 8, 2017
Dear Sir / Madam
I read Paul Gordon’s long letter “So this is Brexit . . . “in Costa News, January 27 – February 2, with great interest to start with. However, having read it twice, it seems that it is just another mini rant against the idea of Brexit, without any helpful input to enable us to understand what is so overwhelmingly good about membership of the EU that “the falling living standards of ordinary people and high levels of immigration” should be ignored. Ordinary people like me notice the gross housing shortage and the impossible pressures on the NHS in the UK and wonder if the influx of hundreds of thousands of immigrants have anything to do with it.
Another thing that bothered me was the news that the first EU accountant, who refused to sign off the accounts, was sacked just for that refusal, but since then at no time have the accounts of the European Union been signed off by a reputable accountant. And it has been pointed out that the poorer countries of the EU have lost a great tool for stabilising poor economic performance – the ability, in extreme circumstances, to devalue their currency.
Those are the kinds of things which are of concern. Could you please give another couple of paragraphs of space to Paul Gordon so that he can, succinctly, tell us convincingly why we should have stayed in the EU. AND (if space allows) why a single market is not good enough, and why NATO also needs a separate European army.
I’d be happy to be convinced.
Penelope Taylor
