Green Brexit

SIR – A number of wildlife organisations (Letters, December 31) warn that a “no-deal” Brexit will be a disaster for the countryside.

Have they lost all sense? Britain is copying over all EU laws, so the ones that relate to the environment will still exist. No EU body checks the rivers: that is the job of our Environment Agency. We have perhaps the most committed and forward-thinking Environment Secretary ever in Michael Gove.

The organisations also say that Kent will be affected by cross-channel mayhem – but this is something we have already seen, due to various French disputes.

Surely the signatories would welcome a Brexit that slows population growth, which can be harmful to the countryside, and allows us to introduce laws that give Britain direct control over things such as fishing. They should stay away from politics and focus on what their members pay them to do. Graham Mitchell

Haslemere, Surrey

SIR – MPS have warned that “hundreds of thousands of small businesses may have to pay VAT for the first time once Britain leaves the EU” (report, December 28).

May I suggest that MPS take the trouble to learn about VAT before making statements about it? Businesses of whatever size do not “pay” VAT in the permanent way you and I do when we buy “vatable” goods in the shops. If they are Vat-registered, they account for the tax they collect from their unregistered customers. If they are not registered, they will recoup any VAT which they themselves incur, from their onward sales. Either way they will not be out of pocket. VAT threshold levels are therefore fairly irrelevant where their profitability is concerned.

In reality, many small businesses can apply to register even though their turnover is too low to make it mandatory. So contrary to what the nitwits on the Commons EU Scrutiny Committee say, a lower VAT threshold should, in fact, be seen as something of an advantage. It is certainly not a “danger”. Hugh Rogers

Ashby, Lincolnshire