One country cannot exist in isolation

A QUICK skim through the paper on Saturday provided me with the news that pig farmers may have to cull their animals due to a shortage of workers. Apparently, many migrant workers returned to the EU after Brexit and the withdrawal of freedom of movement, and are reluctant to return.

The NFU is concerned about the fragility of food chains. We are experiencing an HGV lorry driver shortage which has resulted in empty supermarket shelves, petrol shortages and the Army being drafted in to help.

The NHS is hoping to encourage workers to Cornwall. I don’t know about you, but, when using the service, it has been pretty obvious that we relied on overseas staff to keep the NHS functioning.

The farmers are also having trouble finding workers to harvest crops, and let us not forget the shortages in hospitality staff.

Yet Mrs Earl assures us that Brexit is not to blame for our current problems. She blames the EU, illegal immigrants, scroungers, a badly organised NHS (which has just been responsible for one of the most successful vaccination programmes in history) and the perennial favourite, ‘Do-Gooders’.

Mrs Earl, you have your ‘freedom’ and your sovereignty, you even have your imperial measures back, we have left the EU.

Yes, I voted to remain and will always regret the result and be angered about the lies that were told, but I am tired of the constant re-hashing of the argument and no one is benefitting from the current fiasco. I want the UK to be a thriving country where we all live and prosper, but a bit of realism would be a place to start. We live in a world where one country cannot exist in isolation.

Catherine Pickles Buckfastleigh, Devon