YP Letters: Ignore the hysteria and respect the referendum result

Labour leadership candidate Owen Smith is under fire for his Brexit stance.

THE proportion of our economy that consists of exports to the EU amounts to only about a tenth of UK GDP. That is, the rest of the UK economy is nearly nine times bigger.

Really the EU is not that important to us in comparison. Yes 10 per cent matters but the other 90 per cent should not have been so wilfully ignored by ex-Chancellor Osborne, the BBC and other Remainers during the referendum, and after.

Some claim that trade negotiation with the EU is now essential. But look again. If there was no new deal, the already agreed WTO MFN status would be used by both sides at the same tariff levels. But the UK exports about £70bn less to the EU than the EU exports to us. Hence the UK government would make about £3bn surplus even if it refunded our exporters’ tariffs fully so removing their effects and allowing common pricing in both EU and UK markets.

Consequently there need be little change to the UK economy after leaving, even in the supposed worse case. The dire state of the eurozone is far more damaging to the UK than Brexit is, and currency movements are far more significant than the majority of tariffs. The hysteria generated by the Remainers about the economic consequences of Brexit are as exaggerated as their threats of doom before the vote.

From: Louis Kasatkin, Wakefield.

IN response to Labour leadership challenger Owen Smith’s outrageous comments regarding a second EU referendum, people will recall that immediately  prior to the EU Referendum on June 23, HM Government solemnly promised the electorate: “This is your decision. The Government will implement what you decide.”

How I wish the sore losers, malcontents and constitutional obscurantists of the defeated Remain campaign, including some 200 Labour MPs, will now hush and let us put the toys back into their prams for them.

From: Terry Palmer, South Lea Avenue, Hoyland, Barnsley.

WOULD-BE Labour Leader Owen Smith has said he will try to stop Theresa May triggering official EU exit talks unless she offers a referendum on the final Brexit deal or agrees to call a general election to approve it.

There you have it. Forget the overwhelming majority will of the people. It’s time these non-representatives were given their P45s and let us vote in people of all political persuasions who are prepared to represent us – fully.