The case for withdrawal

Is being in the EU necessary or desirable? Convince me of either and i shall cease to be a eurosceptic! I will argue that it is neither.
1- Necessary for what?
We can have free trade without EU membership via EFTA/EEA or associated status (Channel Islands and Isle of Man). Sure we wont have any vote in common market regulations but if you read John Major's (former British prime minister) autobiography you will see that common market regulations are decided by the bigger countries. We can have free movement of people without EU membership via EFTA/EEA. Your Norwegian friend has all the benefits of Europe that you do (except he cant aspire to a cushy job in Brussels!)
2- Desirable for what? Now we don’t need it why should we want it? Why do we want to hand over our independent foreign policy. Remember us courageously opposing the British on the Falkland’s, what chance of that happening now? An independent foreign policy is an essential component of a proper independent country. Unless you are one of those few people who believe that Ireland can veto EU foreign policy, how can we be independent and be in the EU! Why do we want to hand over our independent justice policy? Ireland has the highest standards of civil liberties in Europe, why drag them down to continental European standards with ID cards, trial by judge, conviction by 7 jurors, no right to silence, police raids on immigrant quarters, stop and search. While our Amsterdam treaty opt-out insulates us from much of this we are committed to giving it up in 3 years after Lisbon comes into force (buries in the referendum question and NOT on the ballot paper!).
Why do we want to hand over our independent monetary policy? Yes the euro gave us 10 years of get rich quick schemes. It made bankers, builders and politicians very very rich indeed. The euro creates the property bubble that has spectacularly burst and left us unable to devalue our currency to kick start the economy. We are now fairly stuck as reinstating the punt carries big risks too.

So i ask you to read up on EFTA/EEA and associate status. You might come round to my thinking. Just one small problem, there will be no more cushy jobs for our politicians!!!