The recently leaked Government plans for leaving the EU without a deal made for terrifying reading, especially for anyone dependent on medicine to remain healthy.
The Prime Minister and the shrinking number of enthusiasts for leaving claim that this was an old assessment and that they have made improvements since.
There’s an easy way to put people’s minds at rest though - publish the new assessments and let us know exactly what the government thinks no-deal would do to us. Otherwise, we’re all entitled to ask: “How bad is it that they must hide it from us?”
James Blanchard,
Curzon Terrace, York
Making a deal’s not so easy in ‘Project Reality’
When the referendum was held the Brexiteers, including our ‘unelected’ Prime Minister, assured us that a deal with EU would be ‘one of the easiest in history as the UK held most of the cards in any negotiation’. They all said a No Deal Brexit would cause huge economic damage.
Anyone who suggested that Brexit would result in problems at UK borders, medicine shortages (over 90 per cent of our medicines are made or come via the EU), the importance of the Northern Ireland border (no hard border is crucial part of the Good Friday agreement) etc, was told it was Project Fear.
We are now living in ‘Project Reality’.
If we leave the EU without a deal, the UK will be classified as ‘a third country’ and will come under Article 218 regulations, which means any future deal will take a lot longer to negotiate. So far from Brexit ‘going away’, leaving without a deal means it will dominate politics for years to come.
Helen Webster,
Main Street, Fulford, York
Recessions and hot breakfasts
To paraphrase an old saying, I’ve seen more recessions than you’ve had hot breakfasts.
I was born during the really really big one and have survived many a smaller one since.
They are a fundamental part of economic life and used to be called the Trade Cycle and ‘boom and bust’.
I may say they have grown progressively less severe to the extent that any adverse effects of Brexit will hardly be noticeable; indeed I believe the effect will be beneficial from the start.
A V Martin, Westfield Close, Wigginton, York
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