Several of your recent correspondents about Europe have repeated the assertion that our Parliament has lost its sovereignty and that most of our legislation is now dictated by the European Union. This is one of the myths peddled by Eurosceptics, notably UKIP: it is quite simply untrue.

The latest official estimate that I have seen of the amount of our current legislation that originates in Europe is 13 per cent. The majority of this relates to sectors that know no national bounds, such as the environment (including climate change and, for example, the conservation of fish stocks in international waters and food standards) and the fight against organised crime and terrorism.

These are matters in which international co-operation, taking account of agreed guidelines and standards, is essential.

Nor is the legislation imposed on us by bureaucrats in Brussels: there is a full democratic process in which the elected members of the European Parliament, and each member country's officials and ministers are involved, before the proposals go to national parliaments.

It is disappointing that the debate so far about whether or not we should remain 'in Europe' has been about alleged unfair legislation and trade. In the present dangerous state of the world the overriding factor in my opinion is that the countries of Europe, linked for centuries by their common history and culture, should remain a coherent entity, to counter the growing pressure exerted by the increasing dominance of China, the turmoil within the Islamic world and the present latent weakness of USA, beset by internal doubts. (Would we wish to maintain the often cited 'special relationship' with US policy if Donald Trump were elected President next year?) As a committed 'European', I admit that there is much that needs to be corrected in the present organisation of the EU, but we are more likely to achieve a rational simplification from the inside, using our power and prestige, than from the outside, moaning about its alleged failings.

Do not cite Norway as an example of what we should do: as many Norwegians have reminded us, they pay (for participation in the free trade market) but have no say.

And do not forget what membership of the EU has done for Cumbria: as one of our former elected MEPs pointed out in a pamphlet last year, the economy of the North West has benefitted by at least £2.3 billion each year from EU funding activity within the region, and – thanks to pressure on David Cameron from Tim Farron and other local MPs – we are probably about to receive substantial help from EU funds towards the repair of our flood damage.

Mary Wane

Windermere