WTO not so easy

From Day One of a no-deal Brexit all the rules that underpin life in the UK will cease to exist.

Permission is required to take lorries from the UK mainland into Europe. In the event of no-deal, the UK would be limited to just 3,000 trucks a day. That represents 5 per cent of the current amount of the 30,000 a day that make the crossing.

The Brexiteers say “fall back on WTO rules”. These, however, are hugely complicated. WTO have 10 per cent tariffs for cars being sent abroad. As part of the EU it is currently zero. On shoes and clothes, the tariffs are 12 per cent. Under the EU it is zero. On beef, WTO tariffs in some areas are 90 per cent. This alone will decimate the agricultural sector.

The UK Government could unilaterally make all goods coming from the EU tariff free. However, under WTO rules this would have to be done for all countries. Therefore, there would be no leverage to negotiate any new trade deals with any other countries

Another serious consequence of a no-deal Brexit is the threat to cancer patients. Some key diagnostic tools and cancertreatmentsrelyonradioactive isotopes that would decay until they became effectively useless if they are held up in the anticipated six-week border delay that is expected from a no-deal Brexit.

These scenarios are based on facts that may be inconvenient, but the Brexiteers can’t deny them. Donald Tusk was right that the Brexiteers were a bunch of charlatans.

Brexit is entirely down to the factional fighting and incompetence of the Tory party. In a desperate attempt to keep her walking abomination of a party together Theresa May has put the country at risk.

ALAN HINNRICHS Gillespie Terrace, Dundee