How I feel about leaving the EU

I was asked to provide a comment, so I reproduce here for my readers:

I was told  when young I was born into a country famed for her democracy, the home of the Mother of Parliaments, a place where each individual’s voice was respected and each vote mattered. There was  nothing the UK could not achieve. We were  self governing , trading with the five continents of the world, an outward looking seafaring island people.

All this changed with our progressive incorporation into the EU project of economic, monetary and political union. For many years the UK governing classes pretended the project was not one of union, or thought we could be swept along by stealth. The public thought otherwise, demanded a referendum and voted to be an independent country.

I never doubted we would win the referendum. I argued that we were being good Europeans by stepping aside from their mighty task to create a United States of Europe. We should wish them well and be friends with them, but the fact that the UK had refused to join the Euro showed where our hearts resided – with the wider world and with national democracy. Today I feel  much relief that our country has been open with our friends in Europe and stated clearly we wish to be self governing whilst good trading partners and allies of theirs. I look forward to 2021 as a year of strong economic recovery, where we can start to use the  new freedoms and opportunities