READERS will have been surprised by the personal nature of the attack by UKIP members in your letters page (June 6) on Sir Graham Watson.

UKIP's case against Sir Graham is that he has 'a well paid job with lots of lucrative expenses'. According to one writer 'he has to write complimentary things about Europe, otherwise he would lose his pension'. It is worth pointing out that Sir Graham Watson's pay, expenses and pension entitlement are exactly the same as those of the UKIP members in the European Parliament. In return, he is a hugely respected and hard working member of the Parliament, while the UKIP members, whose lightweight contribution does nothing to benefit our country, are despised by all but a handful of ultra right wingers.

The UKIP correspondents go on to argue that Britain does not need to be a member of the EU to conclude a free trade agreement with the USA. It is true that if we left the EU, as UKIP wants, we might be able to negotiate a free trade agreement with the USA.

But if, as UKIP has also argued, we were to leave the EU but somehow retain access to the European Single Market this would be unnecessary, since one of the benefits of the Single Market is enjoyment of trade deals concluded by the EU with non EU countries (on very much better terms than Britain could achieve alone).

Of course, in those circumstances we would also continue to observe all the obligations and rules of the Single Market, though like other non-EU members of the European Economic Area such as Norway we would play no part in setting them.

UKIP's confusion over free trade may arise because the party is more at ease posting insults than assessing policies. It has failed to understand the important difference between a free trade agreement and a single market. Free trade means, essentially, absence of customs duties on most or all produce.

As Sir Graham Watson has argued, the free trade access to the US market negotiated by the European Commission will be beneficial to British and other European exporters. 

The European Single Market goes very much further. It eliminates other and more fundamental obstacles to trade, such as restrictions on the movement of labour and capital, conflicting standards of consumer and environmental protection, incompatible labour laws and contradictory rules governing financial services.

Britain has played a leading part in the creation of the European Single Market, which is beneficial to British businesses and to our national prosperity. It is something we should be proud of, and it is there for us to take advantage of.

Christopher Denne

Sydenham Damerel