Would the UK be better to just leave the EU and focus on Commonwealth links?

Couldn't agree more - well said!

The UK has much more in common with Europe, most of the Commonwealth countries are thousands of miles away and have built up their own trading links, they don't need or want the UK.

I would definitely agree with you! Traditionally we have much more in common with the Commonwealth. I would like to see much closer links with Canada, New Zealand, India, Singapore, Malaysia etc. Australia would be good but I feel they have been trying to distance themselves from the UK especially with their desire to become a republic! I think in principle it would be a good idea but leadership would have to be passed between each member state for example one year Canada has presidency then its the UK then India etc. It would be great having the opportunity to find work in Canada or New Zealand. Another idea much better than the EU is if we joined the North Atlantic Free Trade Association (NAFTA) that is with Canada the USA and possible Mexico and worked towards that being an economic federation.

God, no - we are NOT fundamentally different from the rest of the EU, we have much more in common with them in terms of social and political attitudes than we do with the US. The EU is a trading bloc of over 300 million people, who we do most of our trade with. It may be nostalgic to think of trading mostly with the Commonwealth, but it is not a trade bloc, and apart from India (most of whose people don't have much money), the populations are not large - Australia is less than 23 million people, New Zealand less than 5 million, Canada less than 35 million - their combined population is less than the UK. Anyway, there is no indication that these countries WANT closer trade links with us, Canada is tied into NAFTA, which, Simon, is the North AMERICAN Free Trade Area, not North Atlantic, together with the US and Mexico. Australia concentrates its trade on China and other parts of Asia. Dislike of the UK within the EU has been fanned by our own euro-scepticism and it's time to drop this stupid euro-scepticism, most of which is fanned by tabloid newspapers which are owned by foreigners like the Australian-American Murdoch who has his own reasons for wanting to keep us out.

Economically Commonwealth countries are growing far faster than European ones of course it would make sense to establishing stronger trading ties with these countries. As for those who think it would be madness to leave the EU the fact remains that we import far more from Europe than we export to them. Leaving the EU would not mean a loss in trade it would harm Europe more than it would harm us it would just mean a new trading relationship like Switzerland. The UK has always had a far more international economy than the rest of Europe and we have been the least prosperous while we have be bound to Europe are trade surplus has withered to a deficit.

Hilarious question ! What , 40 years after we told the former Commonwealth countries to eff off , cos Europe is our future , we now say to them , sorry , our mistake , lets go back to what we had before ? Wakey , wakey ! !

no.

You really think you are something special? And you do not know that you are in the Commonwealth, exploiting all your old colonies already. Typical right wing, xenophobic and mindless rant.