Even before Brexit talks begin, the EU’s proposals are vindicating our decision to leave

SIR – Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, has suggested that, as part of a trade deal, the EU could ban Britain from cutting tax or scrapping regulations.

If any statement encapsulates why we are right to leave, this is it. The EU behaves like a regulatory and fiscal ratchet, with state spending proceeding in one direction only.

This is the economics of an organisation divorced from reality. Leave the EU to its fiscal madness, and have nothing more to do with it. Steve Willis Northampton

SIR – I assume that when Mr Tusk said “We already miss you,” he really meant “We shall miss your money.” Jonathan Pearson Nayland, Suffolk

SIR – Now that Britain has formally announced its intention to leave the EU, it is time for Remainers to think about what they are doing and how it is being perceived – not only in their own country, but by the EU itself.

By demanding that Parliament approves the final Brexit terms, or that these terms are voted on in a second referendum, they are playing into the hands of EU negotiators, who will realise that all they have to do to keep Britain in is to offer the worst possible terms. This is a classic EU strategy.

Sadly I suspect that some of the Remainers already know this. Ken Shuttleworth St Albans, Hertfordshire

SIR – As Christopher Booker (Review, March 26) will be aware, the EU exports fours times more to us than we to it.

He quotes Michel Barnier’s comments on what might happen if no deal is agreed, to which the response can only be: if Britain’s export lorries are queuing to London, theirs will be queuing to Berlin and Madrid.

Surely this makes it all the more likely that a deal will be struck quickly. Jeanie Bailey Hove, East Sussex

SIR – Mr Booker regrets that we have not been “clued-up enough to leave the EU but remain in the European Economic Area”.

We (the electorate) expressed no opinion on leaving the EEA in the EU referendum. This is because the Government didn’t give us the option. The ballot paper referred solely and specifically to the EU, which the Government’s own official guidance clearly distinguished as an entity from the EEA, or single market.

For the Government to abandon this distinction is undemocratic. It has no legal authority to take us out of the single market. Surely the issue needs to be dealt with by the courts, as a matter of urgency. David Crawford Norwich

SIR – Those who have pressed Theresa May to guarantee the rights of EU citizens resident in Britain show no consideration for British citizens resident in Europe.

The former category would certainly be reassured by such a commitment, but the latter would feel even more insecure.

The Prime Minister’s critics should note that she made several attempts to cut an early deal, but her proposals were rejected – and, anyway, a mutually beneficial deal is a near certainty once the EU deigns to discuss the matter. Derrick Gillingham London SW1

SIR – Article 50 has been invoked and that makes me happy. However, I am not happy about one position that many politicians seem to be taking.

They argue that we should control immigration much more carefully. However, they also argue that an exception should be made for those with talent and good qualifications.

The suggestion, then, is that we should improve our workforce at the expense of other countries. Isn’t that a selfish position to take? Allan Littlemore Sandbach, Cheshire