While politicians of all parties understandably profess respect for the result of last year’s EU referendum, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the most viable and widely supported option for Brexit is one in which the UK remains in the customs union and has the best possible access to the single market. It is also becoming clear that immigration will continue at close to current levels, regardless of arrangements with the EU, that business will continue to maintain virtually all EU standards and that any savings from our EU contributions will mostly be applied to similar activities as at present, such as agriculture.
The cost of making these minor changes to our European status will be a divorce bill with the EU of tens of billions of pounds, which really is money that we could otherwise invest in better public services that are clearly of much more concern than EU membership to most people. The frequently cited figure of £50bn represents around two-thirds of annual spending on education and nearly two years’ expenditure on social care. Surely this choice should be put clearly and impartially to the British people before a Brexit deal is completed.
Ian Bretman
London
• It’s hard to believe that the Italian communist leader Antonio Gramsci would suggest, as does Paul Mason (G2, 13 June), that a Labour government should immediately negotiate to subvert the most directly expressed will of the people. Even Jeremy Corbyn’s critics accept that his swift and unambiguous decision to proceed with Brexit ensured Labour’s credibility and played a key role in the renewal of contact with an important section of working-class voters. Ideological hegemony cannot be won on the basis of duplicity.
Nick Wright
Communist party
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