Tories should remember Thatcher’s words on single market

From: Dr O J Sykes, Liverpool.

THE chaotic Johnson government continues to strip away the powers of Parliament, whilst privileging the rule of unelected advisors, failing to address threats to national security, and pursuing the hardest form of withdrawal from the European Union (William Wallace, The Yorkshire Post, July 25).

As we survey this sorry state of affairs, does anybody remember who once told British businesses ‘It’s your job, the job of business, to gear yourselves up to take the opportunities which a Single European Market will offer’?

The same person then asked ‘Just think for a moment what a prospect that is. A single market without barrier – visible or invisible’ which is ‘bigger than Japan, bigger than the United States, on your doorstep and with the Channel Tunnel to give you direct access to it’; before ending with a final flourish. ‘It’s not a dream. It’s not a vision. It’s not some bureaucrat’s plan’.

These are the words of Margaret Thatcher, whose real views on Britain’s place at the heart of Europe have so often been misrepresented, including by some of those who can claim to have known her best!

She set some of the best British minds to work on the creation of the single market because she knew, as history subsequently proved, that this would be of benefit to every British woman, man, child and business.

The anti-EU policies of the present-day Tory party deprive us of the right to continue to enjoy these benefits, and undermine the one positive legacy of a leader they venerate.

From: Lorna Macdonald, Holmfirth.

I USUALLY agree with Bernard Ingham’s columns, probably because I am an old fogey too. We were taught to be respectful not just to people, but to our homes, clothes and possessions (The

Yorkshire Post, July 29).

We had real austerity in the 19030s and 40s so nothing was thrown away. Brown wrapping paper was ironed to be used again, string was tied in bundles for the same purpose, bed sheets cut and turned sides to middle.

I am disgusted at the amount of food thrown in the bin nowadays. As to the litter and flytipping, I don’t understand how people can do that.

The parting advice when we left home was ‘Don’t leave any litter, keep to the paths and close all the gates’. I still live my life in this way and accept all the changes in society and technology. But I cannot understand where the pride in this country has gone.