Phillip Roe asks (Letters, November 25) why those opposed to Brexit think that Britain should remain in the E.U? For my part, I do so because over my life I have been made aware that Europeans at all levels, from kings to labourers, have for centuries been sharing across borders their ideas and experience-based accounts of how governments should best be organised to work for the greater good of all citizens.

The results of this longterm interchange of good practice is why Europe - as a close geographic group of interactive, independent states - is seen globally as a template of democratic, socially caring government.

It is clear that interstate collaboration has improved the human rights and well-being of all living in Europe.

The European Union is a machinery for enhancing that collaboration. The fact that the U.K. is retaining E.U. negotiated economic and social-welfare laws and regulations agreed as a direct result of our 40 year membership is recognition of the value of working in partnership with nations whose development is so closely interwoven with our own. The E.U. works; why opt out?

Maurice Vassie, Cartmans Cottage, Deighton, York