Joy Linford (Opinion, July 8) seems to have forgotten that Margaret Thatcher signed us up to the strictest set of rules since we joined the European Union - The Maastricht Treaty.

Fortunately, this has enabled the government to introduce the Social Chapter which is of benefit to most people in our country. There are many political advantages of our being part of the EU and if we do join the single currency in the next Parliament, after a referendum, this will protect us from currency speculators who plundered our economy on Black Wednesday in 1992.

-Joan Moorhouse, The Brow, Woodingdean, Brighton