SIR – Harold Macmillan once said that Britain lived by trade and nothing should be done to unnecessarily hinder the free flow of imports and exports. When Ted Heath became Prime Minister he continued the trend by negotiating membership of the Common Market on behalf of the country and the Conservative party.
This has become the Single European Market (SEM) with duty and document-free access to most of Europe and so smoothing the way for UK business deals amounting to some £450 billion annually. Now the likes of Alan Chapman (T&A letters, March 8) wants to throw this all away on the spurious pretext of supporting Britain against the ravaging hordes from across the English Channel.
Little wonder then that business organisations from the CBI to the Mousetrap Manufacturers Federation are desperate to retain unfettered access to the SEM. They know the alternative now promised by Mrs May - a Canada (CETA) style agreement - is just the sort of bureaucratic nightmare Macmillan warned against over 50 years ago. And where, for example, each individual transaction would be required to comply with the protocol on the rules of origin which has 34 articles, seven annexes, 12 footnotes and runs to 229 pages!  
Brian Holmans, Langley Road, Bingley