Not worth breaking up UK for free trade deal

Graeme Smith has a humorous way of saying ‘I told you so’, or more accurately ‘Project Fear told you so’ (Viewpoint, March 18)

But while the principal architect of Project Fear, George Osborne, issued many dire warnings about the disasters likely to befall us if we dared to vote to leave the EU I do not recall him ever predicting that the leading figures in his party would prove incapable of implementing a sensible withdrawal, even if they were willing to attempt it – which he and David Cameron were not.

This started nearly eight years ago when the Tories published a draft bill for a referendum on EU membership which failed to say what should ensue if we voted to leave; this flaw was pointed out but it was still carried through to the 2015 Act, so that legal challenges started within days of the vote, and over nine months were wasted before the withdrawal notice could be put in.

And now we have a Lords committee warning that relations between the UK and the EU have deteriorated so badly, especially over the Irish protocol, that it is becoming conceivable that the EU may not ratify the trade treaty, which it has yet to do, and reiterating their previously expressed view that it is difficult to envisage a worse outcome for the UK than a ‘no-deal’ Brexit.

I disagree. it might be nice to have a free trade deal with the EU, overall worth the same to our economy as maybe six months natural growth at the trend growth rate, but I would much prefer to keep the United Kingdom intact and default to the WTO treaties for our trade with the EU; betraying our fellow citizens in Northern Ireland and breaking up the country would be far worse.