Leaving the customs union was precisely the plan in the referendum
SIR – This week, when switching on the television, I have often been subjected to Sir Keir Starmer explaining to me patiently that, when voting in the EU referendum, my understanding of the issues involved was clearly limited.
Let me assure Sir Keir that I was, and am, fully aware of the consequences of exiting the customs union and, like many of my friends, voted accordingly.
Keith Elkington
Verwood, Dorset
SIR – I certainly get fed up with politicians telling me what I didn’t vote for in the referendum.
Apparently, I couldn’t possibly have voted to leave the customs union when I voted to leave the European Union. The clue is in the word “Union”. I voted to leave the Union.
José Bartlett
Bracklesham Bay, West Sussex
SIR – In the referendum, some people, including me, voted Leave, seeing a much brighter future for the United Kingdom as an independent country.
Nobody I have met voted to leave the EU and to remain in a customs union with no decisive influence over our future and no chance to strike trade deals with emerging economies, where future growth will be seen.
Chris Davies
Chertsey, Surrey
SIR – Advocates of our staying in the customs union are truly Brussels’ “useful idiots” in the Brexit process.
The other side in the negotiations has a huge trade surplus in goods to protect, but need do nothing to secure it while British membership of the customs union remains a possibility. The longer it remains a possibility, as the clock ticks on, the narrower becomes our room for manoeuvre.
We would also have problems down the line. Consider the EU negotiating a free-trade deal with a third country, with the other side looking for a concession. Whose markets would be offered up to break the deadlock? With every EU member state having a veto, and Britain having no say at all, it isn’t hard to guess who will be the loser.
If nothing else, the Brexit vote was to take back control. The guerrilla war being waged by “continuity Remain” must not be allowed to frustrate the result of the referendum.
Austin Spreadbury
Enfield, Middlesex
SIR – I listened on Thursday to the Conservative MP Dr Sarah Wollaston explaining that without a customs union there could be delays in obtaining essential medicines from the EU; lots of companies rely on “just-intime” supply chains.
I respectfully believe that she is worrying unduly, and these points should not muddy the central issue of honouring the vote to leave the EU. Free-market companies will adjust supply chains to avoid disruptions. Fears over problems do not mean you shouldn’t embark on a full exit.
Graham Mitchell
Haslemere, Surrey