LETTER: 'Claims about EU are simply false'

The EU Commission does not impose regulations on the member states; it proposes material to harmonise law across the EU.

These proposals are reviewed, voted upon and they only become legislation once they are voted through the EU parliament.

Even after being passed by the EU Parliament, it all still has to go through Westminster or the devolved governments of the UK before it becomes law here.

READ MORE: LETTER: 'EU only wants money and ability to control our lives'

Of the 2,466 regulations voted upon between 1999 & 2016, those that the UK wished to support were successful in 95% of cases. (Of the remainder, 2% were on matters that the UK had chosen to opt out.)

Sadly, the UKIP MEPs that took their seats in 2014 chose not to engage in the parliamentary activities and as they have amongst the lowest attendance records, this has reduced the collaborative efforts.

As for the legislation, far from being intrusive, most of it has been highly constructive.

It has included employment law that sets minimum rights, equal pay, time off, parental leave and pay.

There has been regulation on product safety, environmental protection, and health and safety, all of which has been to the benefit of citizens of the UK.

I wonder which ones of these people feel they would wish to lose?

There have been many comments about the “EU Accounts” not being audited; in fact they have been signed off each year in the last decade.

However, 80% of the EU budget is actually managed within the member states, and there have been some instances where those national governments have not been using the funds according to EU rules.

Finally, it’s worth highlighting that the cost of EU membership to UK citizens is about 45p per person, per day.

This is slightly more than the cost of one large cup of coffee per week in one of the main coffee chains found in most town centres.

For all of the benefits EU membership brings, that’s really good value.

TONY SUTCLIFFE