Charles Cocking, of South Pool, writes: Recent debate in the media has prompted me to write regarding the European Union referendum. It is my belief that 90 per cent of the British people who voted 40 years ago on our continued membership of the European Economic Community were not really aware that, if we voted to stay in as we did, it would lead automatically to us accepting being part of a federal Europe, at least without further public consultation. The thing we voted for was continued growth of an economic group. Okay, it may have been there in the small print but what percent of the general voting public read all that? With Maastricht, the 'Econom­ic' was dropped from the EEC. If that were to be replaced and the concept of a federal Europe dropped then I believe there wouldn't be an issue today. I am certainly no expert on the matter but what I do know is that this opinion is also shared by a sizeable population in other European countries. The federalists forget, or never considered, that each individual nation is proud of their heritage and individuality. They would, please sir, like them back. What was wrong with EFTA anyway?