Shropshire Star

Letter: Why we're greener in Europe

There are a lot of different views being expressed both by the "stay" and the "leave" advocates.

Published

Many of the utterances are no more than opinions or they have a nationalistic flavour – there are very few facts.

Looking back over the time we have been in the EU, from the point of view of Friends of the Earth, one big fact stands out. The majority of legislation that has resulted in environmental improvement has come from Brussels.

If we hadn't been in the EU would our own governments have achieved that progress? The answer is no because there was protest about the cost of cleaning up our rivers, of removing pesticide residues from drinking water, banning the bee killing neonicotinoid pesticides etc.

Air quality is the present huge concern and again our governments has done nothing to achieve improvement – even though air pollution causes thousands of premature deaths each year. As a country we have a poor record and have been forced to make our environment healthier.

Very often environmental issues have huge implications for people so social justice is closely linked. Over decades the poorer members of the EU have benefited from massive financial support. This is social justice on a grand scale and lifted whole countries out of poverty – The Irish Republic, Spain and Portugal in particular. The same needs to be done in the future for some countries in Eastern Europe. As countries become richer they are able to improve the environment and also invest for a sustainable future. We should be proud to be part of this.

Looking back over the EU's achievements, what the British people have gained and the regrettable attitude of successive British governments in these areas, it is an obvious conclusion that we should remain in the European Union.

The main cry of those wishing to leave is "sovereignty" but with the past record staring us in the face it seems certain that giving our government free rein would mean the rolling back of environmental measures implemented and a reluctance to progress further.

Frank Oldaker, Shrewsbury Friends of the Earth

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