A future free of Brussels? Bring it on!
We’re told daily that failure to reach a withdrawal agreement with Brussels will be a national disaster from which we might not recover. Such ravings are untrue.
If we don’t reach a mutually agreeable arrangement, we will have achieved the superb constitutional position of being free of any of the eU treaties inflicted on us over the past 43 years.
We will be able to cancel any of the 120,000 eU regulations which are estimated to cost us £75 billion a year.
We will make all our own laws and regulations rather than having them made by politicians and eurocrats we didn’t elect.
UK court decisions will take precedence over eU court decisions. We can decide who will be allowed to enter the UK and we can spend our current eU contributions in a way which we decide.
We will no longer be told by the eU how our ‘rebate’ will be spent.
If this regaining of our independence is classed as ‘failure’ then bring it on! R. M. FLAHERTY, Auchterarder, Perth.
EU survival
I’m a BrexIteer, every bit as passionate as Nigel Farage, yet I found myself agreeing with alastair Campbell when he said that ‘Brexit can be stopped’.
Brexit could be stopped very quickly: all it would take is for the eU to drop its ambition to be a single state and revert to being a Common market.
this is what Britain and most eU citizens want. Here we are at the 11th hour with even european Parliament Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt and manfred Weber, an Mep and key ally of angela merkel, observing that: ‘the very survival of the eU is now at risk unless major changes take place.’
But, incredibly, the changes they suggest are more integration, the very opposite of what people want.
Britain will be the only country to leave the eU because changes in eU law that come into force on april 1, using the euro as the cur- rency and election systems based on proportional representation, all conspire to prevent others from jumping ship.
as the results of each of this year’s elections in eU member countries are announced, the eurocrats will rejoice. But I would counsel that they temper their euphoria because, as recent elections in Britain and america have shown, the modern trend is for the losers to protest.
these won’t be the protests of the liberal elite, rich, privileged and with a self-belief that they alone can rule the peasantry. they will be the painful protests of the populists, the so called ‘deplorables’, the unemployed, the poor and the people without hope, the wretched voiceless citizens of the United States of europe.
JOHN PETITT, Stevenage, Herts.
Past warnings
There were some brave politicians in the Seventies who deserve to be remembered for their persistent warnings about entering the Common market.
One of these politicians was my father, Derek Walker-Smith (Con- servative 1945-83) who, as a lawyer, had read every word of the treaty of rome and saw clearly the dangers to Britain’s sovereignty that would come with joining the Common market with its cleverly disguised ambition to become a european superstate.
the anti-market politicians of the day were deeply unpopular, but they put their country before their own careers — and their fears and predictions have mostly been proved correct.
Sovereignty and freedom are priceless and Britain will emerge stronger as a result of being an independent country again. BERENICE WESTON, London SW3.
Failed gamble
Theresa may is about to pull the trigger on our progress into a new dawn — or a slide into chaos and decline.
amid the uncertainty, don’t forget how the tories led us to this point. the referendum was a failed Conservative gamble to fend off Ukip. to solve an internal party problem, they gambled with the future of the country — and lost. they denied a vote in the referendum to those who will be most affected: 16-17 year olds, most eU citizens living here, and many UK citizens living in the eU.
they failed to specify a minimum turnout or winning margin, as in other referendums, so the biggest decision in decades is based solely on a 37 per cent vote — not enough to call a bus strike.
Don’t forget the years before the referendum. Conservative austerity policies created anger and disenchantment, penalising the poorest and hollowing out public services to pay for the damage caused by reckless bankers. they diverted that anger away from themselves and towards immigrants and the eU.
It backfired on David Cameron on June 23. Don’t forget what’s happened since the referendum. theresa may’s Conservative government denied Parliament any say until forced to do so in court.
It refuses to let Parliament vote on any deal it negotiates with the eU. It plans to take the UK out of not just the eU but the Single market, though this wasn’t on the ballot paper.
It refuses to guarantee the rights of eU citizens in the UK, many of whom have been here for decades. It’s putting the very existence of the UK at risk, showing indifference for Scotland and Northern Ireland, where majorities voted to remain in the eU.
Where were tory mPs in all this? most of them oppose Brexit, yet they haven’t had the guts to stand up and vote against any of it. Others have played a role in this sorry saga, especially the impostor Farage and the clueless Corbyn. But be in no doubt where the prime responsibility lies. From start to finish, it’s the Conservatives who have brought our country to this. On their heads be it.
KEVIN SULLIVAN, Swansea.
Great ‘Brit-in’
While those who voted remain have had their disappointment, it’s now time for those who voted leave to be disappointed.
they’ll find their Government negotiating towards a form of ‘Brit-in’, not unlike the arrangement Norway has with the eU.
We may retain free movement of goods, but the likely price will be accepting free movement of people, paying a sizeable associate membership fee each year and being subject to many eU directives over which we have no say and cannot influence. Brit-in will please none of us. DOUG COUNSELL, Longton, Lancs.
Vintage wine
Lord Heseltine’S speech about Brexit wasn’t as entirely wrong as leavers have implied. there are indeed unfortunate implications of Brexit, though not quite as he stated.
there’s a very real danger that Germany will control the eU in all but name. It’s the dominant economy and no one but the UK had the will and the might to stand up to Germany before.
moreover, it’s untrue that the UK had no influence in an unreformed eU. It was owing to the UK above all that the wine lakes and beef mountains of yesteryear have disappeared — and some eU legislation was UK-inspired. Dr MAREK LASKIEWICZ,
London W6.
Fate accompli
Brace yourselves! We’re about to become the basket case of europe. theresa may is poised to put into practice the consequences of the monumental mistake made by her predecessor in calling the referendum.
Both have become the architects of something that neither wanted. It will seal our fate as we rush blindly into unknown territory.
JOHN FARLEY, London SW9.
Leaving present
Theresa may is about to send to Brussels the most expensive suicide note ever. the 17.4 million people who voted leave should be made to pay for the consequences of their actions rather than all of us having to suffer.
GREG JORDAN, Yeovil, Somerset.