The Tories jostle for position while neglecting Britain’s big opportunity
SIR – What a miserable, disconnected apology for a government is presented at the Conservative conference.
The conference seems to be all about personal power and not about the once-in-a-lifetime chance to reinvigorate Britain and ward off the threat of a Corbyn government.
Theresa May is sticking with the Chequers plan and appears to be thinking of staying for the long term.
How blind can she be to the reality that Chequers is rejected by the vast majority and that her robotic offering at the last election nearly put Jeremy Corbyn in?
The letter from 45 Conservative Association chairmen (September 30) represented the views of most who voted for Brexit. What more proof does she need that the people who matter reject her policy? Roger Todd
Mayfield, East Sussex
SIR – Jeremy Hunt’s invocation of the Dunkirk “spirit” is hardly the most heartening historical reference with which to associate Brexit. Dunkirk was a shaming and chaotic retreat from Europe, created by bungling and inept leadership, that was then spun as something miraculous. Alec Synge
Etchingham, East Sussex
SIR – Chequers is not deliverable and Canada-plus has been offered in the past by Michel Barnier, the EU negotiator. Mrs May should not impale herself on her own spikes.
Neither Chequers nor a customs union is what the UK voted for.
The EU is hostile to the democratic process of member states – Salzburg was an orchestrated insult to the UK. Its intransigence over the Irish border is an attempt to present the UK with the dilemma of either dismembering itself or accepting an injurious deal.
Article 50 is retractable. Its exercise is a right, not a treaty breach. Mrs May should retract it immediately with a warning to the EU, enforced by a one-line Act of Parliament, that an Article 50 declaration will be repeated a year hence. By that time, Canadaplus and Irish border proposals can be outlined so clearly that not even the EU can obfuscate them.
I look forward to the 2019 European elections and voting in them. William Wyndham
Lewes, East Sussex
SIR – Whatever difficulties Mrs May has now, imagine how much worse it would be if we were in the euro. Andrew Mcallister
Shrewsbury, Shropshire
SIR – Theresa May reminds me of an animal frozen in the headlights. We can only watch in horror. Trevor Jones
West Chiltington, West Sussex
SIR – Robert Plummer (Letters, September 29) writes that if he had the funds, he would “corner the market in handcarts”. I was thinking of tumbrils myself. Philip Roberts
Nant Peris, Caernarfonshire