The Liberal Democrat MEP for London has a cheek (Guardian, October 31).

She praises the EU for negotiations for a trade deal with Canada without telling readers that we could long ago have done this ourselves if we had not handed control of our trade to the EU.

Canada will be one of nearly 50 non-EU nations with virtual free trade deals with the EU. Britain pays billions of pounds to be a member of the EU and we suffer massive costs through EU regulations, but those 50 do not.

So why not join them as a free nation, out of the EU but trading freely. Wasn’t that what we were told we were signing up for in the first place?

Andrew Smith, Chairman, Epping Forest Branch, UK Independence Party.