Those German businessmen to whom David Davis addressed his plea to 'put economics before politics' in the hope that they would press the EU to cut a good trade deal with the UK must have been left scratching their heads. Perhaps they saw it as an example of 'British humour'.

Mr Davis is a leading member of a government which has chosen to do the opposite. Had it been serious about safeguarding the economic wellbeing of the British people after the referendum, it would have gone straight for a deal with the EU like Norway has, which was previously recommended by leading Leave campaigners.

But rather than do that, they are choosing to sacrifice easy access to EU markets for our industry, lose out on more than 50 free trade deals with other countries, sever the networks our scientists and universities depend on, disrupt our nuclear industry and access to medicines, and deprive UK citizens of the right to live, work, study and retire in 30 other countries.

Why? To appease the “mad dog” section of the governing party which wants to rip up anything with “European” in the title, even at the cost of lost jobs and prospects for our people and the loss of influence abroad of the UK. Apparently, this is what is known as “taking back control”.

Chris Walker-Lyne,

Millfield Road,

York