THE headline on your recent lead story ("‘Cost of Brexit: One week’s wages for every UK worker", The Herald, November 20) should be sufficient warning to us all. We have already experienced the Brexit premium – a 13 per cent devaluation of sterling against the euro made on the back of the Leave vote. Now I wonder why the the regional economic surveys conducted by government departments have not been published?
Forget the patronising rubbish from Theresa May and her wish for "a deep and special relationship" with our European partners and that the UK will be the "strongest friend and partner"’ to our European neighbours. Her utterance during her Florence speech in September, the phrase “we never really felt at home in the EU”, painted a more accurate picture.
So the UK is attempting the "have cake and eat" it agenda, but the cake is crumbling fast by the day. Brexit will make us poorer, and as we sail into the uncharted waters of world trade agreements we simply won’t get as good a deal as the EU single market. It looks increasingly likely that we will have a hard Brexit and that the UK is looking for someone to blame.
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has made it clear – again – that three elements of agreement must be in place before a trade deal can be negotiated: EU citizenship protection, the Irish border and our exit payments. Our attempts to avoid these issues would be laughable if they weren't so serious. It is the UK who wants to leave. We are in no position to dictate terms. I think this is slowly dawning on the diehard Brexiters who are now accelerating their "agree nothing, pay nothing and walk away" agenda.
Arlene Foster, Mrs May's £1 billion Ulster acquisition, further sets our case back by insulting and threatening Eric Varadkar the Irish Taoiseach ("Tensions grow over open Irish border", The Herald, November 22). I cannot see Mr Barnier being impressed.
The EU wants us to stay in; there would be no gloating by anyone if we were to suspend Article 50 and put a further choice to the nation – walking away or staying in. Unlike the original referendum we all know what it means now (or at least most of it), the smoke and mirrors offered by David Davis throughout the process. A further vote of the people must be offered before Brexit inflicts terminal damage on our country.
Ian McLaren,
27 Buchanan Drive, Lenzie.
I SUSPECT few listened to the speech by Nikki Morgan, chairwoman of the Treasury Select Committee, following Jeremy Corbyn's reply to the Chancellor's Budget statement on Wednesday in which she told Tory Brexit campaigners that there would not be £350 million coming to the NHS every week as a result of Brexit and it was time they admitted it. Somehow I doubt they will.
Paul Shaw,
20 Argyle Way, Dunblane.
IT is a pity that the UK Government isn't allowing an independent audit of Brexit. The shortcomings in the performance of the British-Irish Council, the lost standing in the world of the UK (for example ,the UK is no longer among the 15 countries sitting in the UN court at the Hague) and the billions of pounds' cost to public funds in what the UK's Brexit negotiator called "the most important negotiation in our modern history".
Too important a matter for the current arrangements?
Ian Jenkins,
7 Spruce Avenue, Hamilton.
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