Another omni-shambles week for the Brexit talks. It is now clear that the UK will eventually settle its debts to the EU. Whether that is £40 billion or £60 billion will simply be down to a detailed analysis of the contracts that the UK has entered into.

The UK will also eventually agree to protect the rights of EU citizens living in the UK because that is what will secure the rights of UK citizens living across the rest of the EU.

The intractable problem remains Northern Ireland. The Government’s naïve belief that the UK can leave the single market and the customs union without any need for border controls is daft.

Wasn’t the supposed point of Brexit, for some voters, to stop immigrants from coming and going as they pleased? If there is no hard border then anyone who is in the EU will be able to come into the UK via Northern Ireland. So, other than making us all poorer, what would Brexit actually achieve?

If border posts are erected we risk a return to the troubles of the past or the break up of the UK as Northern Ireland joins the south to remain in the EU.

Christian Vassie, Blake Court, Wheldrake, York

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What evidence does Philip Roe (Letters, November 25) have that the EU is “doomed to fail”? I am not aware of any existential crisis. On the contrary, the rapid growth currently being experienced in the eurozone economies seems to have been a confidence boost.

Similarly I can see no evidence for Mr Roe’s optimism about Brexit. He points to increased factory orders but this is an artificial consequence of the collapse in the value of the pound.

Any short-term gains will be wiped out post-Brexit by the UK’s already dire productivity falling even lower, higher trade tariffs and low investment. Siemens may be staying in the UK but there are several other corporations considering moving all or part of their operations overseas.

To call James Dyson an “altruist” really does stretch the definition of the word.

As the billionaire head of a multinational, who moved his production to Malaysia to take advantage of lower costs and regulation, he is one of the privileged few who could benefit from Brexit. Just ask one of the 835 British workers he made redundant if they think he’s an altruist.

This country faces years of low growth, high inflation, under-investment, labour shortages, and a crisis in our public services including the NHS. Yet Mr Roe apparently still needs to be convinced that we should stay in the EU. I have yet to hear one convincing reason why we should leave.

Richard Brown, Horseman Avenue, Copmanthorpe, York

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Unfortunately many ardent Brexiteers hold that “those who are not wholly with us are against us” , the age-old attitude of the true fanatic.

May I reassure Mr Roe (Letters, November 25) that I remain sceptical of the EU’s value, which I suspect is an outdated organisation set up to deal with yesterday’s problems, rather like NATO.

But I don’t accept one side’s view uncritically. Hence my reminder that while James Dyson promotes leave other industrialists are seriously worried about Brexit’s impact on their trade.

Mr Roe rightly points out the increase in exports since the leave vote, due to the fall in the value of the pound.

He doesn’t mention that this also led to the fastest increase in inflation for many years.

Unfortunately overvaluation of Sterling under Margaret Thatcher, John Major and later Tony Blair damaged exports and wrecked much industrial production, though it was good for the finance sector. This harmed Britain’s real economy more than anything attempted by the EU. Britain’s problems lay with home policies but oh how convenient to blame Johnny Foreigner.

Roger Backhouse, Orchard Road, Upper Poppleton, York