Dr Robin Horan, of Brakefield, South Brent, writes:

I do like a person who knows his own mind and is happy to make a public statement to that effect. In the case of the Brexit debate, it is even more reassuring when that person – Mr R Burnie, Gazette, February 3 – is confident that he knows ‘the single biggest concern for most (my emphasis) people in the UK regarding the EU’.

This, according to Mr Burnie, is the ‘erosion of our sover­eignty’. Wow, that’s quite an assertion to make, that this is the concern of most people in the UK. I’m not even confident I know why some of my friends voted for Brexit, let alone most of the people in the UK.

And whereas one might argue plausibly that the ‘erosion of our sovereignty’ is the concern of the 52 per cent who voted for Brexit, it is certainly not the concern of the 48 per cent who were Remainers, but perhaps Mr Burnie has a point.

Hang on a minute, though, the turnout in the referendum was 72.2 per cent, so that means that 52 per cent of the 72.2 per cent, ie 37.5 per cent of the total electorate, were Brexiters, and 48 per cent of the 72.2 per cent, ie 34.7 per cent of the total electorate (rounded appropriately) were Remainers. That leaves around 28 per cent of the electorate who didn’t vote.

If they didn’t vote, then it’s reasonable to assume they are not over-worried about these concerns. So now the most ­confident assertion that we can make is that around 37.5 per cent – a little over a third – of the electorate are probably ­concerned about the ‘erosion of our sovereignty’ and want to take back control.

This idea of sovereignty and taking back control is certainly an attractive one, so let’s pursue it a little further; but why not start with those areas that affect our daily lives in a direct and obvious manner, ones that hit us in the pocket rather than the more abstract notions that Mr Burnie ­highlights?

For example, it was recently announced that nPower is about to raise energy prices by somewhere in the region of 15 per cent. nPower is a German-owned company – all the profits it makes leave this country untaxed. No doubt EDF will ­follow shortly: EDF, or Électricité de France to give it its full name, is 75 per cent owned by the French government.

Then there is the involvement of the Chinese and French nuclear industries, both either wholly or largely state-owned, in the proposed new Hinkley Point nuclear power station.

More than half of the English – not Scottish or Welsh – water companies are in foreign ownership, though not, it is true, South West Water.

The British railway network is probably the most egregious example. The rail-operating companies make an absolute fortune from their franchises, not because they are efficient, but because of the way the industry has been structured since privatisation, with some of the highest fares in Europe and enormous subsidies from us, the British taxpayers. In real terms, these subsidies amount to more than double that which British Rail ever received. Yet again, many of these are owned by foreign companies. Deutsche Bahn, the German state-owned railway company, owns and runs, among other franchises, Arriva Trains. It pays no ­corporation tax in this country and all the profits it makes goes to help maintain the German railway system.

SNCF, the French state-owned railway, owns a third of both the Southern Rail and Southeastern franchises. The untaxed profits it makes in this country are invested in the French railways.

The Dutch state-owned ­railway also has interests in various franchises in this country: no prizes for guessing what happens to its profits.

Of course, we do have Virgin Rail, and as we all know all Virgin companies are British. Surely it must be so since they are all headquartered in the British Virgin Islands. Ah, but isn’t that one of those so-called tax havens, where money isn’t taxed? Hmm.

I could continue with the names of many companies based in this country but not ‘domiciled’ here: Costa, Google, Facebook… But these are very easy to find from a quick web search.

So yes, please let’s take back control of this country, but let’s make it meaningful by starting with those that are freeloading on the British public.