YP Letters: Churchill's stance on Europe: Friends but not members

Would Winston Churchill have backed the EU - or not?

FOR those in the Remain camp  of the EU debate who cite Winston Churchill as a mover for the EU, this is what Churchill actually said about the EU from his own lips.

He said that Great Britain “must be the friends and sponsors of the new Europe” but did not envisage the UK being part of the EU.

Indeed in the House of Commons on May 11, 1953, he said: “We have our own dream and our own task. We are with Europe but not of it.

“We are linked but not combined.

“We are interested  and associated but not absorbed.

“If Britain must choose between Europe and the open sea, she must always chose the open sea.”

Therefore, from his own mouth, Churchill would not surrender our sovereignty and join the EU.

Named as the greatest  Briton of all time in a nationwide poll, it is very strange that the current British Prime  Minister, David Cameron,  called Churchill “the greatest-ever Prime Minister” and  went on to say: “If there is one  aspect of this man I admire  more than any other – it is Churchill the patriot.”

Well Mr Cameron, if  that is so and if you so admire Churchill, why do you want  to do the absolute opposite of your apparent hero?

Come back Winston,  you are sorely missed by the nation and its people.

From: John S Murray, Moorside Road, Honley, Holmfirth.

I LIKE being in the EU. I like the fact I can travel anywhere in the European Union without ‘let or hindrance’ as the old passports used to say. (It doesn’t need to say that now).

I like the fact that I can live, work, study, or holiday in any of the 28 countries and go easily from one to another.

I even like the common currency of the Eurozone; what a sweat it used to be to have to carry many different currencies when travelling, and how complicated it was to work out all those odd exchange rates.

I like being part of a market that has neither boundaries nor restrictive tariffs.

I like the feel of belonging to a Union of 500 million people at peace with each other; it wasn’t like that in my youth (I was born in 1931).

It may not be perfect –what organisation is? – but I want to stay in it.

I shall vote to remain in the European Union.