Benefits of EU funding outweighed the negatives - Yorkshire Post Letters

The European Union isn’t perfect, but in leaving it the UK really cut off its own nose to spite its face.

I hope Karl Dalgleish of Sheffield consultancy Kada Research feels that’s a fair summary of his column (Green with envy over loss of millions from Europe, The Yorkshire Post, March 28).

Mr Dalgleish clearly has the kind of experience many of us lack: dealing directly with the EU – and in particular its European Regional Development Fund. The paperwork was “a real pain to manage” – but the benefits clearly far outweighed the negatives when it came to growing our economy and creating jobs.

A promise by those behind this Brexit Government that EU funds would be matched if we left has been broken. There’s only so much repetition of the empty “levelling up” slogan that ministers in Rishi Sunak’s administration can do to obscure that truth.

But it’s only one of many such broken promises – and something those who voted Leave in 2016 increasingly agree with. Overall, YouGov’s latest findings show 64 per cent of us believe that the Government has handled Brexit badly (only 25 per cent well).

Which is why Leeds for Europe feels that we need a public inquiry to assess Brexit’s impact. Our petition calling for such an inquiry achieved the 100,000 signatures necessary to secure a parliamentary debate. That debate has now been scheduled for April 24.

Most readers of The Yorkshire Post won’t be in London that afternoon, but they can still watch the debate on the UK Parliament YouTube channel.

Yorkshire Post readers who could be and should be there on April 24 are our region’s MPs. Clearly, it’s an extremely important issue of huge significance to their constituents.

What those who do take part in the debate have to say will be worthy of note. Also of interest to voters will be seeing which of Yorkshire’s MPs can't even be bothered or flatly refuse to turn up for the debate.