"I have never read so much cobblers in what Monsieur Bootle postulates.."
I'll have to revise my thoughts, then, DTC. He certainly knows more than me about such matters, but obviously not as much as you.
Incidentally, he is not alone. I don't know if you read the Torygraph or simply buy it for the crossword. If you do read it you will have noticed a series this week in the Business section entitled "Britain at the Crossroads". It provides extracts from a report called "Reform or Go" published by a group "Business for Britain". Their sentiments in may respects are similar to Mr Bootle's. More "cobblers", do doubt.
Just for the record, I have no objection to the UK belonging to any trading association. The more the merrier. What I object to is its membership of a political bloc whose clear aim is to create a United States of Europe where the wealth and prosperity of the richer nations is subsumed into the squalor of the poorer and where national governments become increasingly neutered in efforts to counter such consequences.