It’s rich of Theresa May to accuse EU of a lack of respect over Brexit negotiations
Theresa May’s rebuke to the EU is one of the most remarkable and embarrassing political statements I have seen.
Mrs May said: “At this late stage in the negotiations, it is not acceptable to simply reject the other side’s proposals without a detailed explanation and counter-proposals.”
The EU referendum was in June 2016. The negotiation of any deal is due to be completed by November 2018. In other words, the UK had a mere 29 months in which to negotiate with the EU. Yet it took the UK Government 25 of those 29 precious months to even come forward with its opening gambit – the Chequers cherry-picking fantasy that was widely, and rightly, derid- edasunworkablewithinhours of its publication. None of this is the fault of EU negotiators, who continue to wait patiently for the UK to come to the table with anything serious. Full responsibility lies squarely with Mrs May and her farcical government. To seek to deflect the blame to the EU is cringeworthy.
Ms May asks the EU to treat the UK with respect. I would suggest that she might afford that same respect to the public. Does she think we’ve been asleep for the past two years?
C HEGARTY Glenorchy Road, North Berwick
The news reports tell us that a Brexit deal will be reached in six weeks time, but don’t hold your breath, the European Union is still livid that any country could leave its wonderful, bloated, bureaucratic, and undemocratic union forged by France and Germany for the benefit of France and Germany.
The solution to Brexit is simple, the European Union has completed a trade deal with Japan, and is in the process of setting up a trade deal with the USA. Why can’t the EU conclude a trade deal with the UK? The answer is in the opening paragraph which includes the word ‘livid’.
JAMES MACINTYRE Clarendon Road, Linlithgow
To any, like me, of the ‘older’ generation who fear the large scale nationalisation and other labour policies and the cost, might I offer a word of reassurance. In line with Labour’s rhetoric regarding Brexit, if the cost of implementing these policies proves unacceptable, Labour will offer an immediate general election or Peoples’ or Public Vote on the costs before implementation. JAMES WATSON, Randolph Crescent, Dunbar, East Lothian
All of us who voted on 23 June 2016 believed our votes were better for Britain. The difference between Leavers and Remainers in the general populace has lost relevance as we increasingly face the consequences of the direction the Government has taken us in since that day. By their own (oblique) admissions, the conclusions of reports they have commissioned and a growing chorus from industry and business, our common futures look bleak and difficult. Not a Better Britain at all!
The betrayal by Government of every one of us who voted continues unabated, with mind-boggling incompetence and little convincing sense of accountability, while their Oppositions, with equal apparent incompetence, sit on their hands.
Our elected representatives are taking us to a place where we will all evidently be worseoff than we were in 2016. How can it be allowed to continue? What has happened to governance ?
In the absence of government being able to inject any sensible direction and common purpose for a Better Britain into the Brexit proceedings, the British public should be allowed a People’s Vote with a correctly framed series of voting choices.
If the growing sense of frustration is not accommodated expediently through democratic means, then we should be afraid of the consequences when they start impacting on the supermarket shelves and our pockets.
DENISE WALTON
Peelham, Foulden, Berwickshire