The EU is not stuck, it is looking at productivity solutions - Yorkshire Post Letters

It’s your decision which letters to publish. But do explain to TW Jefferson that not every letter you receive is published.

His delusion that pro-Europeans are “ducking” his letters - repeated yet again on June 9 - because he’s not seeing responses published is grating. I - and presumably other readers of a similar progressive, forward-thinking mindset - have sent replies that haven’t been used.

And please don’t let Mr Jefferson now get carried away with the idea ‘oh, those letters must have been no good, then’. You feature a lot of not-very-good letters from those who still support Brexit.

Presumably, that’s in the interest of ‘balance’ - because those ropey letters are still the best letters you get from that side of the argument. A lot of excellent pro-European letters get spiked because of editorial ‘balancing’, I imagine.

But remember only one in 10 (11 per cent) think our departure from the European Union has been more of a success than a failure (YouGov, January 20-21). The tiny minority yet to wake up to the harm Brexit’s doing to our country are over-represented on your letters page.

The 56 per cent Rejoin versus 44 per cent Stay Out figures Mr Jefferson calls ‘flaky’ are not: They’re taken from the What UK Thinks website, which rounds up several individual polls to derive its numbers. It’s robust and reflects the trend - and less prone to the month to month shifts of single surveys.

Mr Jefferson claims ‘the Draghi Report’ shows “the EU is stuck in a bad place”. First, let’s give the European Commission report prepared by former Italian PM and President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi its full title - The Future of European Competitiveness.

Yes, it acknowledges there’s a productivity and innovation gap between EU members and global rivals, such as the US and China. Then it proposes remedies. It doesn’t accept that the EU is “stuck” where it is.

Britain now outside the EU is also struggling with productivity issues, of course. It’s got worse since Brexit - raising trade costs and barriers, discouraging overseas investors and stifling competition. Working with EU members is more likely to present solutions than isolationism.