Editor,

RE: "Will Britain choose irrelevance?” (The New Times, April 5). An interesting article, albeit one that takes one side of the argument. Leaving the EU will be a leap of faith for the country, I do think that laying the ills of the world at our doorstep is unfair.

My father used to tell me "never buy the best house on the street, you will be limited by the others”. We are being held back by most of the EU states and should be allowed to fly on our own. We will be able to negotiate better trade deals outside of the EU, especially with the larger economies, such as China, Brazil etc.

You also seem to dismiss the collective strength of the Commonwealth of Nations which certainly gives a voice to countries lower down in the GDP list— Zambia, a good example, as you are aware.

By Rwanda joining the bloc in recent times goes to explain the relevance of the Commonwealth even today.

In summary, if we accept that will be on our own, we are the fifth largest economy by GDP, are respected politically among world organisations, I would not call that a step into international irrelevance.

Keith