I AGREE with Keith Isaac, back in 1975 when we joined the Common Market, it was a small group of quite similar countries, who agreed to dispense with trade barriers.

Did we ever think for a moment that we could never withdraw even if continued membership was not in our best interests?

Did anyone envisage it evolving in the present organisation, did we consider that it would expand to include 27 countries, some quite dissimilar?

When was the last time 27 people sitting round a table agreed on anything?

How did a small trading agreement become a law making parliament, with 751 members (all no doubt on generous salaries plus expenses) demanding... demanding... large contributions to its budget?

How have we arrived at the situation we are now in?

If we are unhappy with the terms of membership, surely the British people are resilient and strong enough to return to being an independent nation, trading with the rest of a very large world, and living by our own laws.

It seems straightforward to me. Either we go, or we stay, but half in and half out is the worst of all decisions.

Pamela Brown,

Goodwood Grove,York

There is no going back on referendum

I FEAR that the Remain persuasion with a mixture of attrition, rotating scare stories and public ennui might well get and win a rigged Referendum Mark 2.

If so, I doubt if the 27 will welcome us back as a repentant Prodigal Son but rather as a recaptured deserter with no rights but many obligations, including Euro membership with an enhanced subscription, pour encourager les autres.

In a way I am reminded of an old Scottish Sunday school lesson; God goes down to check up on Hell where he is greeted with a piteous wail of despair.

“Lord we didnae ken!” to which He/She responds: “Ah weel - ye ken noo.”

This loses somewhat in translation. “Lord we didn’t know.” “Well you know now”, but the sentiment is clear.

A V Martin,

Westfield Close,

Wigginton,York