WITH less than a week to go until the EU Referendum, we take a look at some of our letters on both sides of the debate.

Vote in our ballot to show which side you will choose on Thursday.

‘EU truths’

GIVEN that Warrington is one of the most Eurosceptic places in the UK, this letter may well fall on deaf ears.

However, I hope that your readers will consider a few truths before casting their ballots.

Immigration: Only half of the migrants to this country come from the EU. If we leave the EU that group will still come along with a good few from within the EU.

The campaigners for leaving speak of ‘controlling our borders’ but this is a myth, it may be possible if we have a system of visas and work permits but even then many would still slip through.

Bureaucracy: If we get rid of Brussels ‘red-tape’ we will have to replace much of it with our own else put workers’ rights, consumer rights and public safety at risk.

Firms which continue to export to the EU will have to abide by their rules, while the Government will have no say in making them.

Companies with offices in Europe will have to abide by EU data protection rules.

If we turn our backs on Europe, I cannot see the EU willing to do us any special favours in terms of trade.

In fact it will be the reverse as they will be worrying about the response of their own electorates. Norway is not in the EU but has ‘bought’ access to the single market by agreeing to accept free movement and abide by rules while having no say in making them.

Payments: Sure we will save some money if we leave the EU but not the £350 million, proven to be misleading which is still being quoted. There will certainly not be ‘zillions’ to spend on the NHS cutting taxes and everything else promised by the out campaign. But consider what currently happens to the funds we don’t get back? It is spent helping the poorer regions of Europe to develop and become markets for our goods and services.

Sovereignty: I feel that this is a much outmoded concept.

Today pollution and global warming don’t stop at Dover, and the world has grown closer in the 40 years since the previous referendum.

Certainly the internet knows no boundaries when an innocent family in Warrington can be defrauded by cyber criminals in India.

Certainly the EU is not without its flaws, but better to change them from within as enthusiastic members than to walk away. In a world that is increasingly globalised and interdependent it would be wrong to turn our backs, instead we should embrace the changes and the coming together of nations.

DENIS MCALLISTER Lymm

Bigger picture 

IN all the debate about British membership of the EU we seem to have lost sight of the big picture – it is the most successful peace project in the history of the world.  Britain is a leader in a partnership of 28 countries, many of them dictatorships less than three decades ago, working together to promote democracy and freedom and to find shared solution to problems we face in common.  Surely this is what most of us want?

To pull out of the EU will leave us economically and politically weaker.  It will make it more difficult to deal with the migrants’ crisis, the threat from terrorists or the ambitions of President Putin.  It will deprive us of our ability  to stand up to the economic might of China or the dominance of American multi-national companies.  Instead of criticising we should be taking a lead in building a Europe that can be a stronger voice for good in the world.

When Britain stood alone against enemies in 1940 it was heroic. 

For Britain in 2016 now to turn its back on friends and seek isolation instead of partnership would be absurd.

DAVID KNAPP Great Sankey

Prom pride

LAST Friday night my wife and I attended a ‘proms night’ to celebrate our Queen’s 90th birthday.

We along with hundreds of others lifted the roof of St Thomas’s church in Stockton Heath with all the familiar tunes Land of Hope and Glory and Rule Britannia.

It was the most uplifting night I’ve ever experienced and leaving the church we felt really proud to be British.

Saturday morning we watched the Trooping of the Colour and the Changing of the Guard on TV. All that military history, the Coldstream guards in their wonderful uniforms, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh looking radiant watched by millions of people all round the world.

We felt so proud to belong to a country that stood alone in two great wars and defeated an enemy who wanted to dictate all the people of Europe.

Now all this is under threat from the unelected bureaucrats of Brussels with their plans for a European army.

My hope is when the great British public go to the polls on the June 23, they think about what our ancestors fought and died for to defend our monarchy and the right to govern ourselves.

PATRICK MULLEE Stockton Heath

Havoc caused

IN last week’s letters (Warrington Guardian, June 9) there were two which summed up perfectly to me what this EU referendum is about.

Firstly there was one from Ian Wilson, from Great Sankey, where he clearly and calmly showed how undemocratic the EU institution is and points out correctly how the MEPs in Brussels are just like our House of Lords with no real powers. They can only ‘suggest’ or ‘amend’ new laws which come from the unelected Commission.

We all know the mess the EU is in and the one direction it is heading as we see its growth floundering and without Germany holding it up (for not much longer) it would be in real dire straits. Unemployment double that of ours with youth unemployment in Greece, Spain and others running at 50 per cent.

Mass immigration creating havoc.   Yet the letter underneath Mr Wilson’s was the one from Cllr Ian Marks of Lymm, titled ‘Heaven help’, which was on the usual ‘scaremongering’ vein of the establishment, comparing those who are for Brexit and want to leave to Donald Trump and President Putin.

He goes on to say ‘you are known by the company you keep’.

What we do know is that the Remain campaign is run mostly by the Westminster/London bubble consisting of the bankers, financiers, lawyers, mega-company tycoons, politicos and city slickers, not to mention most of the journalists and broadcasters.

All of the above have one thing in common apart from their mega wallets.

They want the status quo and EU gravy train to remain and are terrified that Ian Wilson and the rest of us who feel like him may bring it to a stop.

Yes Cllr Marks. You are ‘certainly known by the company you keep’ and we all know which way you will be voting.

A EDWARDS Fearnhead