Brexit benefits

Oh dear – it seems that I have hit yet another nerve with EU apologist Steve Cowdrey, so much so that he accuses me of being a right-wing writer, which is strange as Steve and I have never met let alone discussed my political or ideological thoughts (SA, April 6). To suggest I am right-wing simply because i consider the EU to be a political construct which offers little value to the UK, is odd to say the least. After all many left-wing writers oppose the EU.

Steve makes a valiant attempt to produce a grocer’s list of the benefits of EU membership which at first glance appear quite impressive, but ignores the fact that the UK may, and indeed probably would have implemented many of the things described had they not been part of the EU. In fact the UK had agencies tackling many of the issues Steve mentions and we merged their activities with the EU equivalent (e.g. the British Standards Institute). Steve’s belief that improved consumer protection came about simple because we were in the EU implies that a UK Parliament is an irrelevance in today’s society as were the various organisations which offered consumers protections. What we have seen since January is how our so called friends in the EU have used Brexit to penalise the UK for having the temerity to leave, which incidentally was a perfectly legal action covered in various EU agreements.

I guess the most audacious claim made by Steve, and which will be challenged by finer minds than mine is his claim that the EU has been the foundation of peace in Europe for 60 years; that claim is not simply absurd, it also fails to recognise that NATO (with incredible funding from the US and the UK – not so much from European allies) has been the main bastion in providing an answer against a Russian threat.

Whether the EU really want a working partnership of equals with the UK is yet to be seen, but in Steve’s list there are a number of areas in which the EU has bared its teeth and steadfastly refused to contemplate co-operation with the UK; and I’m inclined to think his claim that the EU has somehow succeeded in providing cross border policing to combat human trafficking will be met with howls of derision.

As for giving Steve just one tangible benefit of Brexit – well thankfully I didn’t have to think too long for an answer. Thanks to the UK being free of the bureaucratic, dead hand of the EU over 50 per cent of the UK population has received a Covid vaccine, something which would NEVER have happened had we remained a member of the sclerotic EU.

Des Morgan

Caraway Drive

Swindon

Brexit will be undone

No wonder Leave voters now pretend they always knew Brexit would be an economic shambles - because it’s so embarrassing to admit that Remain voters were right! Government figures show an export loss to the EU of £5.6 billion in January 2021, a drop of 40 per cent. At this rate, over nine months we’ll have lost a sum equal to all the money the UK paid to the EU over 40 years - with absolutely no visible benefits!

In 2017, the Tories boasted that a Brexit deal would be one of the easiest in human history - but hundreds of thousands of UK jobs are going because of Brexit. Among hundreds of companies relocating to the EU are: Kasai, Jota Aviation, Rex London, Teal & Mackrill paint makers, Dartmouth Crab company, Gocycle, RHSP architects, Designers Guild, JD Sports, Horizon Retail Marketing, Coca Cola, Blackrock, Audio Technica, Nissan, Aston Chemicals, BMW, and even the London Stock Exchange - to name but a few!

The UK’s reputation is trashed. £350 million a week extra for the NHS was a downright lie. Calling out chicanery of the Brexiteers isn’t negative - in fact, it’s the first step toward putting things right. Brexit will never be done but, one day, it will certainly be undone!

Steve Cowdry

Saddleback Road

Shaw