CERI JAYES, of Lower Warren Road, Kingsbridge, writes: I was very interested to read Charles Cocking's letter, Gazette, June 12, 'We didn't vote for federalism'. Well said, Mr Cocking. British voters thought they were signing up for the UK to have access to European markets in the referendum on Britain in the EEC in 1975. They did not realise that entry into the EEC was the start of a European grand plan. Let's not get misled as our ­parents were when they voted 40 years ago. We are no longer the sick man of Europe hamstrung by strikes and inflation. We are the fastest-growing major economy in Europe. We can flourish as an independent ­country trading with our allies on the Continent, the Commonwealth and emerging markets. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, Britain's trade with non-EU countries has outstripped exports to Europe for a record eight months in a row. Sales to the EU made up 45.1 per cent – £11.1bn – of total UK goods exports in April, which is the lowest since records began in 1998. Sales of British goods to the rest of the world rose to £13.4bn. Exports from the UK to China have increased fourfold over the past decade. With the benefit of hindsight, would we have voted to join a club that charges a net £55m per day as a membership fee? Would we have signed up to a club that imposes thousands of laws over which neither our parliament nor we have any say? It is outrageous that 75 per cent of our laws are made in Brussels and 3,580 new EU laws have been introduced since 2010 that effect how British firms can conduct themselves. The UK is subject to Brussels' jurisdiction in agriculture, ­fishing, social policy, migration, employment law... The list is endless. If we were not already in the EU, would we be electing to join it? I believe Britain would be better off and would thrive as an independent nation, ­trading with our allies around the world and living under our own laws.