THE pro-Brexiters are quick to point out that we can make new trade deals once we leave the EU.

They quote places like Canada and Australia as two major ones.

The problem with this argument is about 24 million people live in Australia while about 36 million live in Canada.

The population of the EU, even when 65 million Brits leave, is over 500 million which means we need direct access to other economies totalling about 400 million.

Saying we can include the USA and China is silly. We already trade with them and are unlikely to increase that trade once we leave the EU.

The EU is not perfect but what we have facing us is a complete disaster which is why our government is dithering about activating Article 50.

As for controlling our borders, most of the immigrants entering Britain do not come from the EU and there is no way we can control our borders on our own. We don’t have anywhere near enough ships and customs people to do it once the EU just allow everyone to set sail for Britain.

The whole thing is a mess and as a historian can I point out that since the formation of the EU there have been no wars in Western Europe.

More than 70 years without conflict is something never known in the history of the area, so if the EU is good for nothing else it has brought an incredible lasting peace which I hope, even without the UK, will continue for many years to come.

Alan Lowe Rudheath Northwich