‘I despair at the ineptitude of the Government’

IT IS becoming clear from the letters published in your paper that many members of the leave campaign are becoming rattled with the state of play in the Brexit negotiations.

As an unabashed remoaner this is very interesting as I sense from conversations with colleagues and acquaintances that our departure from the EU is nowhere done and dusted.

Many people who voted leave are thinking that, given the emerging facts, perhaps it was not such a good idea after all.

The notion that an easy deal with our foremost trading partner, the EU, is as distant as it was two years ago when M Barnier stated that it would not allow the UK to just cherry pick its preferred options.

One can understand this as the integrity of the European project is of paramount importance as a trading bloc where its members have unparalleled commercial advantage and security.

So a member leaving the group cannot be seen to enjoy the the same benefits as those in the club.

The Government’s mantra ‘Global Britain’ cleverly resurrects that Victorian schoolroom image where the map on the wall was 1/4 pink and the colonies were sending cheap produce back to the mother country. That was more than a century ago. We do still have global reach, and this through the EU, which has created Free Trade with all the major players.

Now for us to start from scratch, hoping to secure our own Free Trade deals will take years.

So what is the point? Indeed what is the point of it all?

Can any Brexiteer divine the future and tell me in simple terms how my life will be improved after Brexit, when all the lifelines of trade and cooperation are ditched and we have to fall back on the skills of Liam Fox negotiating with Samoa and Fiji for Free Trade in coconuts? What a fiasco. I despair at the ineptitude of the Government which appears paralysed by fear because in their heart of hearts they know this a no brainer. Phil Bennett Leek