The IMF, who have a dismal record of accurate predicting over Britain and the EU, tell us that if we leave the EU then the whole world will fall apart economically, but at the same time they say that virtually every major country on the planet is in near recession anyway. This is particularly so in large parts of both the southern and eastern “states” of the EU where work is hard to come by and unemployment in some sections of the community is at over 50 per cent.

They suggest that if we leave the EU then our economy will collapse too, but vitally have yet to say how this will happen. But by not leaving our economy will inevitably be dragged into recession by the failed, and failing, economies in the EU. Given that both the World Trade Organisation and Lisbon Treaty rules say that any move by the EU to block our trade would be not only illegal but counterproductive when they sell us £8.1 billion per month more than we sell them (the latest trade figures) it just isn’t going to happen; any kind of ‘trade war’ would be far more damaging to their increasingly fragile economies than ours.

Interestingly two nations apparently not mentioned by the IMF, at least so far, are non EU Norway and Switzerland, both of whom are doing very well.

Outside the EU and its petty restrictions on trade imposed by the Treaty of Rome, and with our historic advantages and global links, we could be doing far better than either of them.

Meanwhile Immigration Watch tell us that immigrants are flocking to the UK because we are one of the very few countries in Europe to be doing well.

For that reason too eleven major international companies have confirmed they have no intention of leaving the UK in the event of Brexit and at least three more have said they intend to set up here regardless of how the vote goes in June so, despite the gloomy predictions by the IMF, all these firms and people obviously believe we have a vibrant economic future outside the EU.

Wendy Wilde Wollescote