WITH Remembrance Sunday just past us, it is worthwhile remembering that, at the onset of the Second World War, many in the UK regarded a European federal project as a desirable necessity.

In November 1938 three British graduates founded Federal Union, an organisation committed to a European federation, which soon grew to 225 branches. The case for Federal Union, published in 1939, sold 100,000 copies in six months.

William Beveridge, subsequently known for his advocacy of the post-war welfare state, put forward detailed proposals for a federation of European democracies.

Winston Churchill on June 16, 1940 made an offer to the French government of an indissoluble union of the UK and France – the offer came too late as France was being invaded by German forces.

After the end of the Second World War many politicians across Europe felt that the response to a second world conflict had to be different.

There is no doubt that the successful EU model helped to hasten the subsequent demise of the fascist dictatorships in Spain and Portugal and of the communist regimes in eastern Europe. At a time when Trump’s USA show little regards for its allies and deserts the battle against climate change, the idea behind the creation of the EU retains validity.

Giuseppe Enrico Bignardi, Durham.