The Daily Telegraph

Brexit funny business

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SIR – You report (May 30) that business leaders, including the chairmen of Volvo, BP, Nestle and BMW, met the Prime Minister on Tuesday to “warn” her about Brexit.

Such companies and people can gain access to the highest levels of government and the European Commission, and lobby for their own interests – as demonstrat­ed by the fact that they were in Downing Street.

These are the insiders; the system was built by them and for them. It sustains barriers against new entrants and disruptive technologi­es, and erects tariffs for competing businesses outside the EU. These are the people who voted Remain, and many of their ilk are now trying to reverse the outcome of the referendum and subvert democracy.

The businesspe­ople who voted Leave tend to run their own family businesses – whether fishing trawlers, farms, butcher’s shops or small factories. They do not usually have access to the Prime Minister – despite the fact they employ 60 per cent of all private-sector workers in Britain and make up 99.3 per cent of businesses.

As for the mere consumers who might want a 20 per cent reduction in the price of their weekly shopping bill, or to buy a non-eu product without paying a punitive external tariff, they don’t get to meet the Prime Minister either. Peter Romilly

Biggleswad­e, Bedfordshi­re

SIR – Why do so many well-meaning people seem to think that staying in the EU customs union would be a good idea?

It’s a rich man’s club designed primarily with the welfare of French farmers and German industry in mind.

In Britain, its main effect is to bear down on the poor by putting up the price of essential items such as food, shoes and clothing. It also severely restricts poor Commonweal­th countries like Kenya or Ghana, as well as countries like New Zealand, from access to our markets. David Watt

Brentwood, Essex

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