THE European Union has given us much to be fearful of, just to correct Mike Biden’s view on the EU (Letters).

First we were duped into believing that to join the EU was purely to join a huge common market – it was not called the EU then; if it had been, it would never have got a ‘yes’ vote.

Second, he says that after the war the EU proved to be spectacularly successful in rebuilding our industries.

That is not correct; our industries before we joined the EU were already successful.

Whilst in the EU we have lost most of our manufacturing base and what is left is owned by foreign companies.

Southampton has been particu-larly hard hit; we have lost some major companies – e.g. Pirelli, shipbuilding, Eastleigh railway works and the cruise ships – now built by foreigners and serviced by foreign labour.

But one of the biggest losses was the Ford Transit plant. Not only was this a scandalous move to a non-EU country – Turkey – but it was financed by the EU to the tune of £60m of our tax contributions, with the Tory Party contributing another £5m to help them.

As for peace, yes, he is correct but not because of the EU, but because it has taken a long time for all the European countries to pay back their war debts.

But now with the EU’s expansionist policies towards the Ukraine and the other ex-Russian satellite countries we are now more at risk of a nuclear war than at any time in the last 70 years.

David J Hacking, Southampton.