Tory hypocrisy to claim reversing Brexit would be a 'disaster': Yorkshire Post Letters

Tory chair and Thirsk MP Kevin Hollinrake claims reopening the Brexit debate would be “a disaster for business” because Yorkshire’s farmers and manufacturers need certainty (Labour MPs push back at Burnham on rejoining EU, The Yorkshire Post, October 27).

Well, that’s hypocrisy from a party that gave us four prime ministers in six years, prolonged Brexit wrangling, a coup by its Eurosceptic fringe, and Liz Truss’s disastrous economic experiment.

Of course businesses need predictability, but Mr Hollinrake cites trade rules, regulation and costs as sources of uncertainty – precisely the issues a serious discussion on closer European ties should address. Calling it “relitigating the past” avoids weighing the benefits of change against the costs of standing still.

Does he really believe Yorkshire’s businesses prefer the status quo to better European trading arrangements?

Nobody should pretend changing our EU relationship involves no uncertainty, but refusing to consider change is no strategy for investment and growth.

Yorkshire’s firms need a credible route to better trading conditions – not the certainty that their disadvantages against EU single market competitors will be further baked in.

If Andy Burnham delivers that through closer EU ties, he can bring concerned “Red Wall” Labour MPs and their constituents on side too.

He might even win over a few of the nearly one-third (29 per cent) of Conservative voters who support rejoining the European Union (YouGov, Sept 24–25). Approaching three-quarters (71 per cent) of Tories want a closer relationship with the EU – not the troubled one Mr Hollinrake’s party left behind.

Peter Auty, Great Hatfield.

Why cannot Remainers report correctly when it comes to Nigel Farage's statement "Brexit hasn't benefited Britain economically"? The statement was meant to highlight the inept way the negotiations were conducted by the UK's negotiators, who were up against EU negotiators who had the upper hand due to most of the UK government and civil service plus disgruntled voters who wanted to remain and did their utmost to stymie Brexit with four years of endless and totally unnecessary litigation.

A waste of time and very damaging to the UK economy; instigated by Remainers not Brexiteers.

The UK needs strong government to promote the now independent UK, something it hasn't had for the last two years and still hasn't.

Andy Burnham now blames Nigel Farage for all the economic woes over the last ten years. He fails to take into account the four wasted years, 2016 to 2020, the pandemic between 2020 to 2022, then two years of the Conservatives committing political suicide.

Now we come to the years 2024 to 2026 with the disastrous labour government run by the inept Keir Starmer and the totally out of depth Rachel Reeves who together have run the country down with higher and higher taxes and wage rises to the union donors, creating a very serious cost of living crisis by inflating prices and stymying investment and damaging job prospects.

Rejoining the EU will be a very expensive venture, the EU are missing the UK's huge donations. Mr Burnham needs to take stock of the facts not fiction when making his decisions.