We must convince people why no-deal will be a disaster

IT CAUSES me great alarm that our news reports seem to be full of vox pops of people on the streets of the UK promoting a view that they are so fed up with the Brexit issue that they think we should just fall out of our membership of the EU on March 29 without a deal.

Even more alarming are the polls I see, which imply that a proportion of the people choosing no-deal as a desired option think this means we will carry on as we are.

It is incumbent on our MPs to explain to everyone the implications of no-deal. If we do not resolve this in some way and Article 50 is not extended or revoked, we will no longer be in any framework or treaty which we are currently part of.

The EU is not about us versus them. These systems were partly created by us, as we are part of the EU. The idea that this could all be simply dropped overnight without disastrous and damaging consequences is frankly bizarre.

We are all fed up with the B-word but it won’t end there. Obviously we cannot remain in no-deal stasis and will have to try and clear up the mess. It will take tens of thousands of hours of parliamentary and civil service time to set about putting everything right and putting trade arrangements back together.

The bill for Brexit is set to get bigger and bigger, and we are losing jobs as major companies move some or all of their operations into the 27 remaining EU countries in an effort to protect their margins.

Maria del Pilar Gomez

YOU’RE quite right to be concerned about Brexit “fatigue” affecting people’s judgment, especially that of MPs. It would be wrong to simply back any Brexit deal that is being proposed by the Government just to try to bring this matter to a conclusion.

Far from bringing closure, a bad Brexit deal will be a drag on Britain for years.

Writing in The Evening Standard, former attorney-general Dominic Grieve told his fellow MPs: “Insisting that all will somehow be well if

Brexit goes through now, rather than insisting on a pause and a measured reconsideration, is an abdication of our responsibility.”

There is growing belief now at Westminster that Brexit will be delayed as the Government is simply not ready for the March 29 Brexit deadline.

You mentioned confusion over no-deal, which is rather worrying. Polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice, of Strathcylde University, sheds useful light in his latest article “Has There Been a Shift in Support for Brexit?” for the website WhatUkThinks.org.

Nicholas