I WAS surprised to read comments from local Liberal Democrat chairman Len Gates in the letters page last week, when he suggested that politicians campaigning to leave the European Union were self-centred.

Maybe it’s the fact he doesn’t have any coherent arguments for a ‘remain’ vote that he has to resort to personal insults.

I’m even more surprised by his words considering one of his own candidates at the TVBC elections last year wants to leave the EU – but I’m not surprised by her position.

If you’re a liberal, a democrat and an internationalist then the only sensible choice is to leave.

True liberals believe, as do I, that decisions should be taken as close as possible to the people they affect and that those who hold power should be accountable through the ballot box. That’s not the case in the EU where commissioners are appointed without our consent and EU law trumps British law.

A vote to leave does not mean we should stop co-operating with our European partners or that we should stop trading freely. This is not some ‘Little Englander’ argument as some would have you believe. Au contraire, the case for leaving is forward looking and internationalist.

The EU won’t allow us to sign our own free trade agreements with other nations.

Iceland have signed an agreement with China but we cannot. Not to mention our friends, in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States or helping developing nations trade themselves to prosperity by removing Britain from an inward looking customs union.

Those of us campaigning for Britain to leave the EU are campaigning for our democracy, for free trade and for our internationalist future.

And the cherry on top is that we save £350m a week that we can spend on healthcare, education, transport or cutting taxes.

Cllr Phil North, Alamein ward and cabinet member for the corporate portfolio, Test Valley Borough Council