EU referendum: Why should we leave the EU?

But, while I certainly saw some benefits of the European Union, I also saw enough of the frustrations and disadvantages to persuade me Britain would be better off outside the EU, writes Dudley South MP Mike Wood.

That's why, like the overwhelming majority of Express & Star readers, I shall be voting on June 23 to take control of our money, trade and laws.

• MORE: Wolverhampton MP Pat McFadden on why we should stay in the EU

• MORE: We want Brexit! Our big EU referendum survey results revealed

Taking control of our money

Every year, the West Midlands sends more than £1.2 billion to the EU. That's more than double the cost of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and more than 12 times what we spend each year on maintaining our region's roads.

Of course, we get some of that money back, but wouldn't it be better if we took control of that money so it is spent on our priorities like the NHS, instead of what Brussels tells us we can spend it on?

We could still support our farmers and important scientific research at our universities, but would have more left over to spend on other priorities too.

Taking control of our trade

When the UK joined the Common Market in 1973, people were promised it was necessary for trade.

In the Black Country, we are proud of our heritage as the home of the industrial revolution and we still produce world-class goods and services sold around the world.

If we vote to leave, we will still trade with the EU – and they will still want to trade with us.

Europe will remain our largest single trade partner, and Britain will be the EU's largest export market – bigger even than the USA or China.

It wouldn't be in anybody's interest to put up job-destroying trade barriers, so we will negotiate a new UK/EU deal based on free trade and friendly co-operation instead of regulation and coercion. While we import more from the EU than we export, for the rest of the world the opposite is true.

In Dudley South, I am proud to represent businesses that export to some of the fastest growing economies in the world – India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, China and Taiwan. Sadly, the EU is too often a barrier to those countries trading outside of Europe.

The European Union has free trade deals with almost no other major economies – 40 years after we joined, Europe still doesn't have a free trade deal with the US or China – and we cannot negotiate our own international trade agreements because Brussels controls UK trade policy.

We're not even free to decide what measures are necessary to defend our steel industry. British businesses deserve better.

Black Country trade would be better served if Britain takes back the power to negotiate our own trade deals and reclaims our independent voice on international bodies like the World Trade Organization.

Taking control of our laws

I do the best job that I can. If people don't think I am performing well then they can sack me at the next election.

Can the same be said in the EU? Half of our laws are now made by Brussels politicians and bureaucrats who we never voted for.

Where is the accountability in that? Yet they take decisions over almost every part of our lives.

On issues from immigration to tax on sanitary products, from energy policy to public health, our own elected Government can only act within the confines of what is allowed by Brussels.

There are obviously risks in leaving the European Union. But the bigger risks lie in locking ourselves into the EU for decades to come.

It has changed beyond recognition since we joined – from EEC to EC to EU. Who can guess how it will change in the future?

What further powers will the EU continue to take once this referendum is over? The EU Commission has already published plans for another EU Treaty and another transfer of powers to Brussels, including taxes.

We can't afford to write that kind of blank cheque to Brussels.

Instead, it's time for Britain to take control.

That's why I shall vote to leave.