I ALWAYS get a feeling of deja vu  whenever I read a pro-‘Brexit’ letter such as that by Anthony Reeve (Review, February 12).

At the time of writing the President of the United States has made clear his hope that Britain will remain in the EU for the sake of the United Kingdom and Europe itself.

I suggest that if President Putin were to make a statement on this he would hope the people of this country would vote ‘out’ knowing that this will undermine the stability and unity of the continent, so serving his malign interests.

This week the Prime Minister claimed that should we leave the EU the so-called Calais ‘Jungle’ might well move to southern England as the bilateral treaty between us and the French would fail.

UKIP members and right wing Tories vehemently protested, yet I was more interested in comments made by the previous British Ambassador to France and the head of the UK Border Agency who tended to agree with Mr Cameron.

On this there is another line of thinking.

We presume we could guard our own borders, thinking merely of the English Channel, whereas there is the border between Eire and Northern Ireland and, if Scotland voted to cut ties with the rest of Britain following a vote for ‘Brexit’, we should also have to guard along Hadrian’s Wall.

Mr Reeve calls for a free trade area with the old Commonwealth.

I’m not sure whether I should like vital trading links with some Commonwealth countries whose human rights records are diabolical.

It is true that I would anticipate trade to continue with much of Europe but we should be at a disadvantage not having a strong voice at the ‘top table’ of the European Parliament.

We have already disadvantaged ourselves for a number of years by electing MEPs whose sole philosophy seems to have been negative and anti-European.

We live in an ever-changing world where the largest companies have bigger incomes than many medium-size countries.

To stand up to such means having a strong voice, which Britain will lose if we turn our backs on the EU.

Our weakness is well affirmed by our failure to protect our steel industry from cheap Chinese imports.

Only with a Europe-wide response will such industry be protected.

We may pride ourselves as having the fourth largest economy in the world and on being a part of the G8 but this is likely to change in the long-term with the rise in fortunes of Brazil, India, China and other nations.

Many multi-national com­panies have sited their offices in the UK because they see our country as having a unique relationship with the rest of the EU – a huge trading bloc.  

I wonder if this will continue if we vote to exit?

The problem is, much of our balance of payments is based on the financial institutions centred around London, which can easily be relocated.

For me, voting to leave the EU will have dire consequences and probably leave this country a spent force and, with the likely departure of Scotland, a disunited Kingdom.

– Mark Parry, Coleford.