A Swiss-style relationship will heal the rift with the EU

If Nigel Farage says it’s definitely wrong to seek pragmatic solutions to the costly bureaucratic mess that Brexit continues to deliver (Tories will be destroyed at next election if it pursues closer EU ties, says Farage, News, yesterday), then clearly this should be an immediate call to action. We should isolate the European Research Group zealots and seek a “Swiss-style” solution, as a practical step to rebuilding our relationship with our closest neighbours.

David Goult Leeds

Addressing the CBI conference, Rishi Sunak dismissed the idea of a closer, Swiss-style arrangement with the EU and proclaimed: “Under my leadership, the United Kingdom will not pursue any relationship with Europe that relies on alignment with EU laws.” But a part of the UK, Northern Ireland, is permanently locked into dynamic alignment with EU laws, so when will that be sorted out?

Dr D R Cooper Maidenhead

It’s typical of Nigel Farage to blame the failures of Brexit on its implementation when the whole concept was flawed from the start – as experts warned. He may have personally benefited from being educated at a leading private school, but those less

privileged than himself are now suffering from his inability to comprehend the real world.

Roger Hinds Surrey

Show some love

It would have been unfair on individual captains to ask them and their teams to bear the consequences of protest (England and Wales refuse to show love to LGBT+ fans... shame on them, News, yesterday). A much more powerful protest that Fifa could not stop would be for the two teams in the final to walk out wearing strips with “free oppressed women everywhere and cherish the LGBT+ community” emblazoned on their shirt fronts.

Gavin Turner Norfolk

Conservative values

Since the Johnson purge of “one nation” Tories from the party, its claim to be “the longest serving party of government” – to which Andrew Grice alludes (The same old Tory tensions may actually kill the party, Voices, yesterday) – should be styled “the most self-serving party of government”.

The belief that government is elected to serve the best interests of the nation has been replaced by a commitment – through the party’s infatuation with deregulation – to serve the interests of those with wealth and influence so that they are further empowered to get even richer while the little people gather scraps from their overladen tables.

This may be less evident since the demise of Truss, but is still the motivating force behind a party whose belief in the survival of the fittest is never hidden for long. For immediate evidence, look no further than the prime minister’s purchase of preferential health care for himself and his family while the NHS

continues to limp along as the underfunded service of the majority.

After 12 years of Conservative government, the values of collective responsibility have been stripped away to be replaced by a different set of expendable values; if you can’t swim then sorry but you’ll have to sink.

Graham Powell Cirencester, Gloucestershire

Want your views to be included in The Independent Daily Edition letters page? Email us by tapping here letters@independent.co.uk. Please include your address

BACK TO TOP