YP Letters: Empty rhetoric won't make Brexit work for Yorkshire

From: Lord Wallace of Saltaire, Lib Dem peer, House of Lords.
Brexit Secretary David Davis.Brexit Secretary David Davis.
Brexit Secretary David Davis.

DAVID Davis in his essay (The Yorkshire Post, May 20) promises to make Brexit work for Yorkshire, but says nothing about what Yorkshire interests he will defend.

So far the debate about Brexit has been about generalities. From June 19, when the negotiations begin, we will have to talk about hard detail. Mr Davis does not explain how he will ensure that Yorkshire manufacturers, who make parts that go into European supply chains, will continue to be able to deliver to assembly plants on the continent.

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Nor how Yorkshire farmers and food producers will avoid facing delays, border inspections and high tariffs. Nor how Yorkshire universities will be able to sustain the European research networks from which they have benefitted so much. Theresa May in her introduction to the Conservative manifesto makes it clear that it is crucial to the future of our country that the next government gets the terms of the UK’s exit from the EU right.

David Davis’s empty rhetoric provides no assurance that the Conservatives’ likely chief negotiator understands the hard and specific interests that he will need to protect as those negotiations proceed.

From: Nigel Bywater, Oak Grove, Morley.

MULTI-MILLIONAIRES in the UK are getting richer, and the Brexit vote hasn’t had much of an impact. But the average wage is being outstripped by rising prices, and living standards are declining.

There have been changes to the NHS, resulting in more serious operations not being done within the 18-week target and people waiting in corridors in A+E. In 2015 the Conservatives put in their election manifesto a promise about making GP appointments easier. The promise has now been dropped, another broken promise.

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Theresa May wants the election to be about Brexit. Let’s hope that the facts about our poorly performing NHS and ailing social care do not get forgotten.

The cost of national debt payment paid by the Government in 2011/12 was £48bn. In 2016/17 it was £62bn. Theresa May thinks her leadership qualities are “strong and stable”, I would say “clueless and deluded”.

I am not sure if people would attribute any of these facts to Brexit. Perhaps it’s as a result of Conservative policies? I am sure Theresa May and her family will not suffer due to reduced police and NHS funding – unlike us ordinary folk.