EUROPE: A moral duty to play its part

She continually refers to the EU as if it was something separate from the UK. As a full member of the European Union, the United Kingdom is as much responsible for legislation coming out of Brussels as any other member state.

Her statement that: “We have lost control of who comes into our country” is nonsense. As anyone who has travelled abroad knows, all incoming persons are checked at every port and airport.

The free movement of labour applies only to citizens of other EU member states and they have never posed a terrorist threat to this country. Indeed, the worst terrorist atrocity in the UK was perpetrated by citizens of the UK already living here. So the statement that “These terrorists (who?) have the right to come freely into our country” is simply not true.

The European Union has been a force for good in the world since the end of the Second World War. Our parents and grandparents suffered two horrific wars in Europe in the first half of the 20th century to defeat nationalism and dictatorship. Their legacy is a union of European nations committed to the cause of democracy, human rights and freedom of speech.

The European Union has been instrumental in bringing an end to fascist dictatorship in Spain, Portugal and Greece, and to communist dictatorship in the Eastern European countries.

The United Kingdom has played an important role in this process in the past and should now be taking a lead within the European Union to help solve the problems, including that of mass migration, which face all European nations.

“A strong nations such as ours”, to use Ms Trevelyan’s words, should not be sitting on the sidelines whingeing. The UK has a moral duty to play its part as a full member of the European Union.

David L Williams,

Alnwick