WHILE accepting the validity of a debate on membership of the European Union, I find the tone of D P Hunter’s letter in last week’s Times and that of Mr Matthews on March 10 disquieting.

The use of terms like ‘conning’ the electory (sic), and talking of the French statesman Jean Monnet’s ‘henchmen’ and of the ‘insatiable political maw’ of the European Union, represents the kind of abusive paranoia that too often typifies this debate.

The origins of the European Union lie in the desire of European countries, after the devastation of two world wars, to ensure that war between European nations could never happen again. The European Coal and Steel Community, formally established by the Treaty of Paris and signed in 1951 by Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, created interdependency and regulated the means of production of weapons of war.

The various agreements leading to the creation of the European Union are many and complex but essentially establish the freedom of movement of people, goods, capital and services within the European Union. Imports from non-EU countries are subject to tariffs, a major reason why major employers from outside the EU locate to the UK to avoid those tariffs and why four out of five British businesses favour remaining in the EU.

It is not true that there is a huge, unaccountable bureaucracy, nor is it true that officials are self-appointed or that no other member state of the EU comes close to having the same principles as the British (unwritten) constitution. Mr Mathew seems to think we are unique. We are not.

All citizens of the EU have the right to services within other member states. Large numbers of British expatriates would be severely affected if the UK were to leave. Many are retired people, relying heavily on local health services. They receive their pensions within the EU without paying a punitive surcharge.

Conversely, most EU migrants to the UK are of working age. Their contribution to our society, from health to agriculture, is enormously valuable.

Measures to protect the environment and consumers, to give people employment rights, to enable young people to study within the EU (free of the tuition fees that apply in the UK!) and to cooperate on security have enhanced our quality of life. A recent report by the CBI estimated that average British households are better off by £3000 a year because of EU membership.

We contribute to the EU budget, as do other member states, but here in the far south west we have received generous European funding, particularly in Cornwall.

There are many issues, and for the sake of the future of our young people and our country it is important to understand and debate them with clarity, fairness and fact. Isn’t that the famous British way?

Dorothy Kirk

Gunnislake