THE concern of Stephen Nash and others to grasp what we pay into, and get from the EU is understandable. However, it’s not a zero sum game. And price and value are not the same.

The bulk of costs would stay if we left – farm payments, for example, a third of the budget.

No-one likes red tape, but every country has rules about buying and selling, especially where fairness or consumer safety is at stake. Few if any EU directives with ‘hidden costs’, many made more costly by UK gold-plating, would not be replaced.

A third of EU spending is on science and technology – with Oxford’s small businesses profiting from the international university research and start-ups which enrich our local economy.

A large part of the remaining third is on infrastructure and other investment in poorer communities. Dualling the Heads of the Valleys road in Wales, for example, saves lives as well as travel costs year on year.

While again much of this spending would stay if we left, the principle holds true that if poorer regions get richer everyone benefits. The larger the base, the larger the aggregrate value, and the 500 million citizens of the EU form the biggest trading block in the world.

Lots needs to change, but who would walk away and leave others to set the rules? Better to stay and get stuck in to making Europe more competitive and less bureaucratic, and Britain stronger in Europe and stronger globally.

EU costs pale beside defence spending. Over 70 years, old enemies have been locked together, especially France and Germany, and we’ve pooled sovereignty and power in NATO, which calls the EU ‘its essential partner’ – 22 nations are members of both. The bottom line is peace, and that’s priceless.

Dr GRAHAM JONES
James Street, Oxford