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| Brexit and the realities facing a post-EU Britain | Brexit and the realities facing a post-EU Britain |
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| I was bemused by Daryl Baldwin when he wrote “I am one of those just-about-managing parents who voted to leave the EU” (Letters, 23 August). Of course the extensive use of zero-hours contracts is completely wrong. That is why they are banned in EU countries such as Austria, Belgium, and France and heavily regulated in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Of course it is also wrong that successive governments have failed to invest in education and training, thereby actively encouraging employers to recruit from overseas, while failing to tax businesses fairly so that the social and economic costs this recruitment model imposes on communities could be mitigated. | I was bemused by Daryl Baldwin when he wrote “I am one of those just-about-managing parents who voted to leave the EU” (Letters, 23 August). Of course the extensive use of zero-hours contracts is completely wrong. That is why they are banned in EU countries such as Austria, Belgium, and France and heavily regulated in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Of course it is also wrong that successive governments have failed to invest in education and training, thereby actively encouraging employers to recruit from overseas, while failing to tax businesses fairly so that the social and economic costs this recruitment model imposes on communities could be mitigated. |
| Many EU countries take a very different approach to these issues so the EU cannot be the cause of Daryl’s justified complaints. So why support a leave campaign that is dominated by those who actually want less regulation in the workplace and more of the economic policies that have caused so much damage? Take a look at the website of the Institute of Economic Affairs – one of the biggest cheerleaders for Brexit – and see its frequent promotion of more immigration as a way of achieving economic growth. This is one of the lies that is at the heart of the leave campaign, and it is one that is being made at the expense of people like Daryl.Ian BretmanLondon | Many EU countries take a very different approach to these issues so the EU cannot be the cause of Daryl’s justified complaints. So why support a leave campaign that is dominated by those who actually want less regulation in the workplace and more of the economic policies that have caused so much damage? Take a look at the website of the Institute of Economic Affairs – one of the biggest cheerleaders for Brexit – and see its frequent promotion of more immigration as a way of achieving economic growth. This is one of the lies that is at the heart of the leave campaign, and it is one that is being made at the expense of people like Daryl.Ian BretmanLondon |
| • Arwa Mahdawi poses basic questions about citizenship (Opinion, 29 August). In a few short days, 55,000 people in the UK have endorsed Permanent EU Citizenship, a formal European citizens’ initiative addressed to the European commission. Endorsements from the UK now exceed a “threshold” of 54,750. The initiative needs to meet thresholds in six more member states and gather one million endorsements overall. This ongoing citizens’ vote is a way for people to get behind a campaign in which they can positively enact their transnational rights as citizens of the EU. | • Arwa Mahdawi poses basic questions about citizenship (Opinion, 29 August). In a few short days, 55,000 people in the UK have endorsed Permanent EU Citizenship, a formal European citizens’ initiative addressed to the European commission. Endorsements from the UK now exceed a “threshold” of 54,750. The initiative needs to meet thresholds in six more member states and gather one million endorsements overall. This ongoing citizens’ vote is a way for people to get behind a campaign in which they can positively enact their transnational rights as citizens of the EU. |
| Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament’s coordinator for Brexit, welcomed the decision by the College of Commissioners to register the Permanent EU Citizenship initiative. He pointed out that the parliament has “repeatedly called for an examination on how to mitigate this loss” of EU citizenship entailed by Brexit. Subsequently, Mr Verhofstadt has called on EU citizens to make Permanent EU Citizenship the “most popular citizens’ initiative ever”. We’re doing our best.Professor Monica GradyMarina PrentoulisAnother Europe is PossibleTom UnterrainerBertrand Russell Peace FoundationJulie Ward MEPProfessor Dexter Whitfield, Tony Simpson Permanent EU Citizenship | Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament’s coordinator for Brexit, welcomed the decision by the College of Commissioners to register the Permanent EU Citizenship initiative. He pointed out that the parliament has “repeatedly called for an examination on how to mitigate this loss” of EU citizenship entailed by Brexit. Subsequently, Mr Verhofstadt has called on EU citizens to make Permanent EU Citizenship the “most popular citizens’ initiative ever”. We’re doing our best.Professor Monica GradyMarina PrentoulisAnother Europe is PossibleTom UnterrainerBertrand Russell Peace FoundationJulie Ward MEPProfessor Dexter Whitfield, Tony Simpson Permanent EU Citizenship |
| • If Michel Barnier is avoiding meetings with Dominic Raab (Report, 30 August), it is because he sees no point in going over dead ground and is resigned, as all rational people are at this stage, to a no-deal Brexit. Brexiters seem certain that this is the sort of ritual posturing at which the French excel, and that a deal will be somehow struck at the 11th hour. It isn’t – and it won’t be. Barnier and co are faced with a clear choice: maintain close ties with the UK by making multiple exceptions to EU protocol; or cement the EU even further by adhering rigidly to all rules – and this is where the “a hard Brexit is not in the EU’s interests” theory collapses. The EU’s prime directive is the survival of the EU. Nothing comes close to that priority. The UK will be sacrificed to that, and then the real disaster will begin for this country.Mike GalvinWinchcombe, Gloucestershire | • If Michel Barnier is avoiding meetings with Dominic Raab (Report, 30 August), it is because he sees no point in going over dead ground and is resigned, as all rational people are at this stage, to a no-deal Brexit. Brexiters seem certain that this is the sort of ritual posturing at which the French excel, and that a deal will be somehow struck at the 11th hour. It isn’t – and it won’t be. Barnier and co are faced with a clear choice: maintain close ties with the UK by making multiple exceptions to EU protocol; or cement the EU even further by adhering rigidly to all rules – and this is where the “a hard Brexit is not in the EU’s interests” theory collapses. The EU’s prime directive is the survival of the EU. Nothing comes close to that priority. The UK will be sacrificed to that, and then the real disaster will begin for this country.Mike GalvinWinchcombe, Gloucestershire |
| • Zoe Williams makes a convincing argument that the way to stop the terrible act of national self-harm that is Brexit is from the ground up (Opinion, 29 August). She also argues that the Labour party is the only vehicle through which the ideologically driven folly of Brexit can be stopped, but that the grassroots of the movement is held back in its attempts to secure a people’s vote by loyalty to Jeremy Corbyn. There is a simple solution to this dilemma – for the Labour leadership to jump off the fence. “Constructive ambiguity”, its strategy to date, is hardly a bloodcurdling rallying cry around which the Labour party and the nation can unite. | • Zoe Williams makes a convincing argument that the way to stop the terrible act of national self-harm that is Brexit is from the ground up (Opinion, 29 August). She also argues that the Labour party is the only vehicle through which the ideologically driven folly of Brexit can be stopped, but that the grassroots of the movement is held back in its attempts to secure a people’s vote by loyalty to Jeremy Corbyn. There is a simple solution to this dilemma – for the Labour leadership to jump off the fence. “Constructive ambiguity”, its strategy to date, is hardly a bloodcurdling rallying cry around which the Labour party and the nation can unite. |
| However, it seems to have achieved its ends in that few people have a clue what Labour party policy is. Given that this matter is the single biggest policy issue for a generation, and one that will affect the lives of millions of working people, this is a gross abdication of responsibility. It is time for the leadership to respond to its base and the national interest by calling for a people’s vote on the final Brexit deal including an option to remain. It might even pay electoral dividends.David CroninStockport | However, it seems to have achieved its ends in that few people have a clue what Labour party policy is. Given that this matter is the single biggest policy issue for a generation, and one that will affect the lives of millions of working people, this is a gross abdication of responsibility. It is time for the leadership to respond to its base and the national interest by calling for a people’s vote on the final Brexit deal including an option to remain. It might even pay electoral dividends.David CroninStockport |
| • It is being claimed (Report, 31 August) that President Macron has suggested a “new architecture” of “concentric circles”, with the UK in the first ring around the euro area. Taken together with statements from Michel Barnier that the EU is prepared to offer the UK a unique deal, this suggests that changes are afoot among the EU27. But they are not new. Back in the early 1990s, the then French PM, Édouard Balladur, floated the notion of “variable geometry” (aka two-speed Europe). It would be ironic if the catalyst for such a seismic change emerged from Brexit. The EU27 might yet have cause to be grateful to the UK.David HollisterLyon, France | • It is being claimed (Report, 31 August) that President Macron has suggested a “new architecture” of “concentric circles”, with the UK in the first ring around the euro area. Taken together with statements from Michel Barnier that the EU is prepared to offer the UK a unique deal, this suggests that changes are afoot among the EU27. But they are not new. Back in the early 1990s, the then French PM, Édouard Balladur, floated the notion of “variable geometry” (aka two-speed Europe). It would be ironic if the catalyst for such a seismic change emerged from Brexit. The EU27 might yet have cause to be grateful to the UK.David HollisterLyon, France |
| • Arguments over Britain’s relationship with the rest of Europe have been going on for 60 years. The 2016 referendum, now 800 days old, was one skirmish in this unending battle, but no more so than the dozen or so general elections that have produced substantial pro-EU membership majorities (including that of 1983, when Labour was resoundingly defeated on a pledge to leave the community). Unless the final Brexit deal is one that keeps us as close as possible to the world’s biggest single market, which in practice means EEA membership or something very similar, there is no doubt that these highly divisive battles will continue, maybe for yet another 60 years. Do we really want that?Alan PavelinChislehurst, Kent | • Arguments over Britain’s relationship with the rest of Europe have been going on for 60 years. The 2016 referendum, now 800 days old, was one skirmish in this unending battle, but no more so than the dozen or so general elections that have produced substantial pro-EU membership majorities (including that of 1983, when Labour was resoundingly defeated on a pledge to leave the community). Unless the final Brexit deal is one that keeps us as close as possible to the world’s biggest single market, which in practice means EEA membership or something very similar, there is no doubt that these highly divisive battles will continue, maybe for yet another 60 years. Do we really want that?Alan PavelinChislehurst, Kent |
| • Brexit is full of small tragedies that seem to be ignored by almost every politician. The European Union Youth Orchestra, possibly the best youth orchestra in the world, will stop accepting UK students after Brexit or soon after. Anybody in the music business knows that this is a massive and incredibly sad loss. I wonder how many of these stories are out there to be told.Nicolas BrichtLondon | • Brexit is full of small tragedies that seem to be ignored by almost every politician. The European Union Youth Orchestra, possibly the best youth orchestra in the world, will stop accepting UK students after Brexit or soon after. Anybody in the music business knows that this is a massive and incredibly sad loss. I wonder how many of these stories are out there to be told.Nicolas BrichtLondon |
| • If Mr Trump successfully pulls the plug on the WTO, what will the hard Brexiters/no-dealers fall back on?Christina DuttaPortsmouth | • If Mr Trump successfully pulls the plug on the WTO, what will the hard Brexiters/no-dealers fall back on?Christina DuttaPortsmouth |
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