A Brexit pause is required – to head off yet another crisis

From: Richard Wilson, Chair, Leeds for Europe.

RASHMI Dube, managing director of Legatus Law, spells out clearly in your Business section the strains created by Brexit uncertainty coming atop the Covid-19 crisis (The Yorkshire Post, June 11).

But she is perhaps too diplomatic to be as clear about where blame for these strains should lie. The deadlines are not set in stone. They are artificial constructs being imposed by our Government.

Brussels has offered a two-year extension to transition talks – but Britain needs to agree to this before the end of June.

If not, then we risk crashing out of the EU with no deal in December.

Groups such as Leeds for Europe and the national European Movement are calling on the Government to accept this offer – delay Brexit and focus on tackling Covid-19.

As Rashmi Dube says, time is running out. I would urge any business that feels that one crisis at a time is enough to contact their MP immediately and demand a Brexit pause. And perhaps be a little less diplomatic than Ms Dube when doing so.

From: Martin Brooks, Chair, York for Europe.

IN the impossibly short time available before June 30 for resolving a meaningful trade arrangement with the EU and the inherent uncertainty any such a deal would involve, the only sensible strategy for the Government is to extend the transition period.

We need to assess the economic terrain in which are negotiating and be objective about our future interests, and the trade terms we need to agree before our practical departure date from the EU.

The huge cost of a no deal to the economy has been well established.

Whilst supporting Brexit in principle, York Outer MP Julian Sturdy has said that a no- deal Brexit will be detrimental and he would work hard to prevent it.

We trust that Julian will be as good as his word on this.

From: John Van der Gucht, Cross Hills.

WHILE the Government’s focus is on the pandemic, Brexit has not gone away, and it appears there are divisions in the Brexiteer Cabinet. These are between what have been labelled the Waitrose Conservatives, who are for protecting British farming and food standards, and the Lidl free marketeers, who want cheap food. There is a fair amount of irony in this given Lidl and Aldi are EU-based and both entirely German-family owned.