YOUR various correspondents, both for and against leaving the European Union, have concentrated exclusively on economic arguments. That is to ignore a plethora of other advantages we gain from being in the EU.

As a law lecturer, I can assure your readers that virtually all of our consumer protection laws have come from the EU. Much of the legal protection for employment rights and the rights of women and children are also EU law.

Of particular importance to Oxford is EU legislation on clean air, currently being used to try to get this government, and local government, to clear the air in our town centres.

The Bathing Water directive forced this country to finally update our Victorian sewage system and stop pumping raw sewage into the sea, where we then swam in it.

Countryside campaigners will be familiar with the Habitats Directive and other EU legislation which protects our wildlife and our countryside.

We all benefit from EU legislation which has reduced our energy bills by making white goods more energy efficient and ensuring we can all buy reasonably priced low energy light bulbs.

Yes, there is much to reform in the EU. It is still too commercially focussed with an emphasis on the free market. But we now have Green MEPs to fight for reforms which would refocus the EU on environmental protection and social justice.

DR HAZEL DAWE
Treasurer, Oxfordshire Green Party