Brexit: lies, lies and misrepresentations

PHILIP J Milton says that he is tired of the negative rhetoric about Brexit.

I am weary of the oft-repeated Brexiteer mantra that we are free to take advantage of the economic opportunities that Brexit brings.

Mr Milton mentions “benefits” and “new opportunities” several times in his letter, yet his argument would have been more persuasive had he been able to describe – even in general terms – what some of those benefits and opportunities might be.

Mr Milton urges us to “get over” our having left the EU, and clearly that is something we must do. I don’t see any going back for the foreseeable future. But I am not prepared to “get over” the damage that Brexit has done to our country (let alone overlook the lies and misrepresentations that led to it).

Nor can we, as a nation, afford to continue to occupy the borderland between optimism and fantasy. Even George Eustice now recognises that the trade deal with Australia is bad for British farming.

We need to have an honest, adult conversation in this country about how Brexit has affected us and what we can do to address those effects. Pretending that there will be jam tomorrow is not going to cut it.

P J Knowles Taunton, Somerset