Yorkshire Post

Trade deals won’t cover UK’s losses

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From: Christophe­r Webb, Headingley, Leeds.

JAMES Kenney (The Yorkshire Post, February 22) says that “Leeds has long recognised that the world is open for business”.

Sadly, that is only true if there is a free trade arrangemen­t in place, preferably with consistent standards and an agreed arbitratio­n process.

All the new trade deals this government has signed don’t begin to replace the value of trade lost with our nearest neighbours, and the sad little agreement we now have with Europe covers neither services – around 80 per cent of the UK economy – nor fishing, nor musicians.

And it is a curious time to complain about an “unelected, self-serving commission” when the latest Downing Street power tussle has seen the unelected former civil servant Lord Frost appointed to the Cabinet.

From: Mike Baldwin, Raven Road, Nether Edge, Sheffield.

LIZ Truss has been reported as telling the NFU conference: “Our farmers need access to new markets around the world, but we need to get rid of the barriers holding them back.” The hypocrisy of this statement is astonishin­g!

The UK exports over twice as much food and drink to the EU as to non-EU countries but Boris Johnson’s dreadful deal with the EU has created enormous barriers of red tape.

The Food and Drink Federation stated that food exports to the EU declined by between 50-60 per cent in January. A recent survey of supply chain managers found that delays were worse in February. These are not “teething problems”, they are structural problems.

The deal is disastrous for Northern Ireland, disastrous for our fishing industry and, due to red-tape, is proving to be disastrous for our farming and food industry. We know what Boris Johnson said about business. It’s the same with food and farming: he just doesn’t give a sausage...

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