KENNETH CLARKE, the dedicated Euro-Federalist, may have unwittingly scored a home goal when he tried to put the frighteners on Iain Duncan-Smith's supporters in the Conservative leadership election by suggesting that Duncan-Smith had plans for getting the UK out of the European Union.

This idea may sound like sacrilege to europhiles in general, but to the greater majority it will foster intriguing possibilities and raise their hopes of Britain becoming an independent sovereign nation again unfettered by the stranglehold that Brussels now has on our internal affairs and right of self-determination.

So what are the pros and cons of Britain withdrawing from the EU.? The major issue is of course, trade. Contrary to what we are continuously being told by Brussels and their political allies here in Britain, successful commerce is not dependent on being a member of a particular trading bloc or political agreement.

Good trade is based on the simple maxim of supply and demand which has been the overriding basis for successful trade for more than 2,000 years and the introduction of a common currency will have little or just marginal effect on any nation's economy.

Other benefits to Britain include:

1. The saving of more than £5 billion (net) which the taxpayer hands over to Brussels every year.

2. The right to make our own civil laws and enforce them by our own tried and tested judicial system. (This would totally exclude being criminalised for selling and weighing fruit or vegetables using imperial scales).

3. The exclusive right for British fishermen to harvest our own seas and manage them accordingly.

These are but a few of the advantages attached to withdrawing from the EU. The greatest benefit of all of course is that of regaining that sense of freedom and independence which comes from running ones own affairs on democratic principles (in conjunction with existing international agreements), as two European nations, Norway and Switzerland, can testify.

Thank you, Mr Clarke, for your encouraging thought-provoking comments re Britain and the EU.

Wilfrid Smith,

NW branch of the Democracy Movement,

Riverleigh Ave, Lytham St.Annes.