Dutch newspaper urges Brits `please stay`

The Hague: A Dutch newspaper on Wednesday published a heartfelt love letter to the British in the wake of The Sun`s call for a Brexit, urging their neighbours to "please stay" in the EU.

"We not only love you, we need you. Who else supports us in keeping common sense on this turbulent continent of ours?" writes the AD newspaper in English in its double-page spread.

"An EU without the UK would be like tea without milk. Bitter. So please, stay. Stay with us."

The plea from across the North Sea came the day after the Brexit campaign pushing for a vote to leave the European Union in the June 23 referendum won a huge boost with an endorsement from the top selling British tabloid The Sun.

The decision by Rupert Murdoch`s paper under the headline "BeLEAVE in Britain" was no surprise given its eurosceptic coverage, but it combined with a recent opinion polls putting the "Leave" camp ahead to a sense of momentum ahead of the bitterly divisive vote.

"Hello Britain, this is your neighbour calling. Please don`t leave us," the letter addressed "to our beloved Britons" in the AD starts.

Not only do the Dutch feel "at ease" in Britain, but "since our King William III (of Orange) married your Queen Mary II (of England) we have been related anyway."

Apart from loving icons of British culture like The Beatles and One Direction, "many of us known Monty Python`s Dead Parrot sketch by heart," it adds.

"And every year we remember, with the greatest respect, all those who have fallen to liberate our country" from Nazi occupation during World War II.

But now Britons are thinking of "sailing out your floating country towards distant shores, so says your largest newspaper, The Sun."

"Talking as a Dutch uncle, we have to tell you it`s not a good idea."

The slightly tongue-in-cheek missive is signed "best wishes your neighbours".

It is accompanied by a list of things of some of the best things about the Brits -- including Queen Elizabeth`s garden parties, the TV show Coronation Street, a full English breakfast and its cultural icons like David Bowie and Freddie Mercury.