From Mr Simon Tilford and Mr Philip Whyte.

Sir, Lord Blackwell and Ruth Lea argue that the UK's economic prosperity is incompatible with continued European Union membership ("Britain must negotiate a new relationship in Europe", Letters, October 17). Their argument rests on two claims: one is that the EU is seeking to impose "an outdated and uncompetitive social market model" on the UK; the other is that membership of an inward-oriented EU does not serve the interests of an outward-oriented trading nation such as the UK. Both assertions are nonsense.