EU's open borders hamper fairer UK

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/12/eu-open-borders-hamper-fairer-uk

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Europe will need to do more than tighten capital controls on big business to improve the lot of the majority (Ed can only create a fairer Britain with Europe's help, 12 December). It will also be crucial to do the same for the flow of goods and people. "Site here to sell here" policies in every EU country, allied with "invest here to prosper here" constraints on cross-border money movements, would allow nation states to see off big business's most potent threat – relocation. Governments also need to be able to take back control of immigration in order to meet the democratic wishes of their people, to lessen pressure on social provision and to prevent the permanent loss of the brightest and the best from poorer EU countries.

Peter Wilby is right that no one country can protect its inhabitants from the ravages of open borders and that changes have to come at a European level. However, it is unreasonable to expect such courage from politicians alone. The politically active must get out of their issue-specific comfort zones – be they social policy, environmental protection or reducing inequality – and realise that their campaigns are rendered more difficult with open borders. The protection and rebuilding of local economies and hence the re-establishment of local political control is the goal Europe must demand. Colin Hines Twickenham, Middlesex

• Is the news that "pro-EU protesters" have taken to the streets of Kiev in their thousands (Report, 10 December) an indication that the EU is neither a dead duck nor universally unpopular? Michael McGowan Former Labour MEP for Leeds

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