IN response to Peter Hirst’s letter ‘Better in the EU than out of it’, October 14 edition.

He advocates the advantages of the “Free movement of people”.

Can he be serious?

Has he not seen the devastation caused by the free movement of people? Sweden has been experiencing riots more serious than those in Manchester and London in recent years (not reported on the BBC, of course) in protest at the overwhelming damage being done to their society by this policy.

Villages near to Heathrow are in crisis because of migrants.

The UK is spending millions to try to stem the tide – even Theresa May made an impassioned plea for the urgent need to protect our culture.

Without also linking such a policy to withdrawal from the EU, she is wasting her breath, of course.

Then, he praises the supposed wonderful benefits of our laws being made by the EU (eg Human Rights).

We have had these in place since Magna Carta, but now we are subject to foreign judges in the EU courts – judges whose own countries have a poor understanding of Human Rights in many instances.

These are the laws which prevent us from deporting the very worst of foreign criminals who go on to charge us millions in legal aid, benefits and accommodation.

Add to that, the fact that our freedoms have been overturned by the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) which overrules the protection given to British citizens by our own courts, and means that people are being sent to other EU countries without charge for trial, with no recourse to judge and jury here.

He thinks that we should welcome all this massive infringement of our liberties for the benefit of cheaper mobile phone costs when we are abroad!

Excuse me – I would rather throw my mobile away than be imprisoned without charge, somewhere in Bulgaria, which is what’s happening with the EAW.

The EU is only adding to our problems with trafficking and terrorism – just guess how many of these have slipped through the net of our porous borders in recent weeks.

Some even get deported and then come back in again, and we are not even allowed to question the criminal background of others, anyway.

We have still got 1.7 million people unemployed and we are filling vacancies with migrants who are welcomed by big business, because they force down the wages of our own workforce – then we pay them unending benefits to make up for their lack of housing and support for their children who have been left at home in a foreign land.

He is completely deluded about the retention of our values.

Then Dr Hirst admits that the EU requires major reform and that it meddles in national matters – an understatement of the year, I would suggest.

He obviously has no concept of the freedoms that we once enjoyed, nor of the 1,000 years of history when we were quite capable of leading the world, nor of the £60 million per day, which we send to Brussels (that would buy a few hospitals and staff them, no doubt), nor of the Commonwealth which would cost nothing to trade with, and where free trade would be the order of the day, again, and neither does he remember the vast fishing fleet which employed thousands down the East Coast, just desperate to be re-invigorated.

I am just waiting for the UK to be free to trade with the world again – even little Iceland has just concluded a free trade deal with China!

Chris Watkin

Chairman UKIP Cheshire West