Quit all the wrangling and stop Brexit - Yorkshire Post letters

OUR two main political parties continue to wrangle over desirable versions of Brexit. Maybe they’re missing one. There is an option based on Germany’s position with full EU membership rights and enjoying free trade with the other 27 members. However, there is a significant advantage for the UK in paying a much reduced contribution to the EU budget – the Special Rebate.

Whilst Germany in is in the free personal movement area known as Schengen, there is an opt-out available to the UK. Again, Germany is a member of the eurozone for the common currency but the UK is under no obligation to join (Lisbon Treaty).

EU law does not cover all aspects of German law and it is the same for the UK.

Germany is under no obligation to become a federal nation state of the EU, and neither would the UK be (Lisbon Treaty).

Germany is quite free to trade with non-EU nations, including Japan, covered by some 65 trade agreements. These too are all available to the UK.

There is no commitment for Germany or the UK to join a so-called ‘European Army’. It does not exist.

If you believe that this kind of arrangement, with its significant benefits and opt-outs would be good for the UK, you believe in the ‘Germany Plus’ Option.

Dear readers, that is what we have at present. Stop Brexit!

From: Thomas W Jefferson, Batty Lane, Howden, Goole.

JAMES Bovington (The Yorkshire Post, May 3) is wrong to place undue trust in opinion polls which are merely an off-the-cuff reaction to a question posed without the benefit of a considered debate.

Currently they will reflect the public’s frustration with the way the negotiations have been handled, rather than giving a genuine view on the real issue, which is whether we wish to restore full democratic governance to our own Parliament or continue to allow the EU to have involvement in much of that responsibility.

Expressed in those terms, the result would most probably be firmly in favour of leaving the EU and I suspect Mr Bovington knows that, which is why he attempts to swing the balance in his favour by extending the franchise to include 16 and 17-year-olds.

By definition they have not completed their education, either academically or in terms of life experience, so their interests are adequately safeguarded by those best qualified – their parents and grandparents – who want nothing more than to secure the best future for their offspring, and which will doubtless include being able to travel in EU countries.

From: Thomas Jefferson, Batty Lane, Howden, Goole.

IN your Editorial (The Yorkshire Post, May 6) you state that a change of Prime Minister will make no difference to the Brexit impasse and suggest that none of those jostling to succeed Theresa May has a credible plan. You are surely wrong on both counts.

You should be aware that the EU has tacitly accepted that the Irish border problem is soluble. The much derided European Research Group of the Conservative Party have held extensive discussions with both the EU and our Government about their credible plans to deal with this problem, using existing methodology.

No objections of principle or practice were raised. These measures have not been taken forward by Mrs May because it is she who lacks the statecraft which you frequently say is lacking in leading Brexiteers.

A new leader would replace the backstop with those measures and replace most of the political declaration with a commitment to the Canada-style trade agreement previously offered by the EU.

Such proposals, which honour the 2017 Tory election manifesto, should command support from all but a few Tory backbenchers and, with or without the support of some honourable Labour members, could command a majority to bring this sorry saga to an acceptable conclusion.

A scientific ‘con trick’

From: Terry Watson, Adel.

Greta Thunberg, the Swedish girl so keen on saving the planet, admitted in a TV interview that she was taught at school from the age of eight that climate change was man-made (The Yorkshire Post, May 4).

They failed to mention the fact that their are no scientific facts to back this up. It is disgraceful that so many people are being misled into believing that we are able to control climate change, which was happening before humans inhabited the planet.

As the genuine scientists, not the ones employed by governments, have said for years, it is the biggest ‘con trick’ ever perpetrated on the public to raise billions in green taxes.

Pride in our island life

From: Coun Tim Mickleburgh (Lab), Boulevard Avenue, Grimsby.

A CURRENT campaign for HBSC has posters that say we are not an island.

But of course, geographically we are! Indeed a famous historical tome about us is entitled An Island History.

That’s why we haven’t been invaded for centuries, and why we haven’t closer ties with continental Europe. It explains the importance of maritime trade, and our links further afield to other nations that have a strong water-based history.

We should be proud to be an island.

Days of empire have gone

From: Peter Hyde, Driffield.

WHILE I have no wish to belittle the recipients of the OBE and MBE medals/awards, which they have so well earned, I do think it is time they were changed to reflect the current situation.

We no longer have a British Empire. Perhaps it could be changed to something like the British Sovereign’s Medal/Order for Service to the Community. The BSM/BSO would adequately suffice.