It’s in Britain’s interests to support domestic agriculture after Brexit

SIR – In the debate on Brexit, we should not overlook the vital importance of the food security provided by domestic agriculture.

The last war will seem a long time ago for most people, but the hostilities then led to real food shortages. The massive effort to increase home production staved off starvation.

Today Britain’s food exports are booming worldwide (report, February 21). These should continue to the residual EU countries. The removal of EU tariff barriers will also allow easier, cheaper access for imported food from all over the world, including the old Commonwealth.

This may bring down shop prices in the short term, but if British agriculture is allowed to run down as a result this will ultimately lead to higher prices and possible shortages. There is both an economic argument for and a basic national interest in protecting domestic agriculture after Brexit.

After the Second World War, an excellent way of achieving these ends was introduced by the then Labour government – the Deficiency Payment Scheme. This guaranteed that British farmers got a fair price for that part of home production deemed to be in the national interest, while ensuring that consumers gained from available cheap imports.

It is time to reintroduce a similar scheme for post-Brexit Britain. Peter Clery Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire SIR – It is often implied in discussion of Britain’s negotiations with the EU that we are in thrall to our continental cousins. In actual fact, we have the whip hand.

We import more from the EU than we export to it, so if there is no free trade we will obtain more in taxes than our exporters have to pay out.

Negotiations should start: “We are happy to trade under World Trade Organisation regulations. Have you got anything better to offer?” Max Bowker Reading, Berkshire SIR – Much is being made of the lump sum which Britain might have to pay upon leaving the EU, with a figure of €60 billion being mentioned (“EU payments to last for years”, report, February 21).

Most of this sum relates to completed EU projects for which payment has not yet been made, and to the accrued pension liabilities of EU staff. These are therefore fair sums for the EU to demand, but they are not a cost of leaving – they have already been incurred and are ultimately payable whether we leave or stay. Tim Beechey-Newman Caversham, Berkshire SIR – You report (January 20) that Oxford University is considering setting up a “satellite” base in Paris in response to Brexit.

This is not the first time that frightened Oxford academics have moved east to establish a new, safer campus. We call it Cambridge. Woody Caan Duxford, Cambridgeshire