Ireland is being used by the EU to keep Britain under its thumb
SIR – Charles Moore (Comment, October 6) is right. EU demands over the Irish border are a ploy to get the United Kingdom to remain in the customs union and the single market. Why should they apply stricter controls for this border than for other EU borders?
Recently, we crossed a much longer and more complex one – the Swiss border with four EU countries. One would have expected the Swiss-german border to be the most meticulously controlled.
On leaving Switzerland, I said to my wife: “We are now in Germany, it seems.” Neither of us had noticed where the border was. There must be far more unmolested traffic between Switzerland and the EU than there is between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland.
Apply to the Irish border similar rules to those applied to the Swiss border. The Irish, on either side, will smile and not change anyway. Dr David Frape
Mildenhall, Suffolk SIR – Surely it is border posts between the North and South that must not be restored. A border obviously already exists and in this day and age customs arrangements provide no problems at all. What on earth is all the fuss about? Tom Williams
Sheffield, South Yorkshire
SIR – I cannot disagree with your Leading Article or with Robert Birch’s analysis of the EU’S negotiating position (Letters, October 6).
However, as a clergyman formerly with border parishes in Co Donegal, with parishioners who had (innocently) suffered physical injuries as a result of the former “hard” border, let me say this. In terms of living people, anything resembling a hard border must be avoided at all costs. The lesson of history is that it will repeat itself, given the opportunity. Rev Kenyon Homfray
Fethard, Co Tipperary, Ireland
SIR – Charles Moore’s account of how the Government voluntarily walked into the Irish backstop trap sounds entirely accurate.
If his prediction of Theresa May further conceding that the United Kingdom will stay in a customs union with the EU is also true, did the Prime Minister mislead the Conservative Party conference only a few days ago when she said: “Our proposal would mean we could renew our role in the world, strike new trade deals with other countries.”
Being tied to a customs union means the United Kingdom cannot negotiate and sign its own trade deals. Liam Fox’s position as Secretary of State for International Trade would be superfluous in such a vassal state. Michael Staples
Seaford, East Sussex
SIR – It has just now occurred to me how Mrs May will give effect to the result of the referendum. She will take us 52 per cent out of the EU but leave us 48 per cent in it. Douglas M H Crook
Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire