ON JUNE 23, we will be voting on leaving an organisation that we never agreed to join in the first place.

Back in 1975, the referendum was about the EEC (European Economic Community) i.e. a trading bloc arrangement.

At that time the British public were not aware that this was a ‘back door’ plan for a closer political union among European countries.

In the current Remain/Leave debate, we are often bombarded with the economic argument that EU countries will stop trading with the UK if the British people decide to leave the political union.

Are we to believe that companies will refuse to sell their goods to the UK market?

I am no economist, but that sounds a bit unlikely.

The Remainers then come back with ‘do we want to take the chance?’

For the freedom to trade with countries across the globe, the freedom to choose who comes to live and work in the UK, the freedom to stop sending millions of pounds of tax payers money to an undemocratic, corrupt organisation, I say ‘Yes, I’m willing to take the gamble’.

A common misunderstanding I’ve come across is that those who support the Leave option are isolationists – that is far from the truth.

Many of us would rather have an open, diverse Britain, rather than one stuck in the doldrums of the inward-looking EU.

I would rather live in a diverse, outward-looking society, where people are judged on their merits rather than the colour of their skin, or their religion.

The way I see it is, if you’re from outside the EU, the UK government’s policies now discriminate at so many levels, and this is likely to increase if we remain as a star on someone else’s flag.

PEARLINE HINGSTON

Chairman UKIP Southampton Test branch