Letters: Britain must resist EU attempts to control tax policy after Brexit

Michel Barnier
Credit: john thys/afp

SIR – When did negotiation become capitulation? The proposal by the EU to align British tax laws with its own is the last straw.

If Theresa May caves in over this she will shame us all. I have come to the conclusion that she is a Remainer in Leaver’s clothing.

Dr Daphne Pearson
Monmouth

 

SIR – Is not this latest attempt by the EU to frustrate Brexit a supreme example of why we must leave this appalling organisation as soon and as quickly as we can?

“No deal” is the only way to secure our freedom. Short-term pain, probably – but immense long-term gain. The EU clearly believes that Britain will be more successful outside than in, otherwise it would not be trying to prevent us leaving. So let us also believe that and get out – now.

Dr David Pound
Daventry, Northamptonshire

SIR – Juliet Samuel is entirely correct when she writes that the Government’s handling of the Brexit process is a “loathsome, disgraceful embarrassment”. Jacob Rees-Mogg (Comment, October 20) is wrong, however, when he writes that “the Conservatives will lose their reputation for competence”.

That reputation is long gone. It began disappearing the day after the referendum result, and Theresa May’s handling of the process has accelerated its demise.

Rupert Godfrey
Devizes, Wiltshire

 

SIR – Quite apart from ruining the Saturday of thousands of Londoners and tourists, the placard-waving brigade calling for a “People’s Vote” were wasting their time and playing into the hands of the EU.

John Taylor
Purley, Surrey

SIR – I would love to see Brexit stopped, but those arguing for a second vote should explain why more clearly. Sounding like a poor loser gives ammunition to our opponents.

If the Leave campaign broke the rules, arguably the referendum result should be annulled. Another reason would be if Brexit is fundamentally unsafe, but in that case there should not be another vote but an indefinite freezing of the process. The debate is choked with woolly thinking: Remainers need to set a good example.

James Dixon
Stanningfield, Suffolk

 

SIR – Why do Remainers so describe themselves?

If Britain fails to go through with Brexit, we will not be able to carry on as before. We will need to ask to rejoin the EU, and the terms won’t be the same: there will be no rebate, and we might be asked to join the euro as a condition of entry.

How many of Saturday’s marchers have any idea what they are wishing upon us?

Peter Owen
Woolpit, Suffolk

 

Action against plastic

SIR – Local authorities may well be running out of money to deal with our recycling, but with a more joined-up approach we would surely need to recycle far less, particularly if businesses had the right incentives to reduce their impact on the environment.

Every action taken by businesses and politicians needs a proper climate-change impact assessment. This would make it much easier for us to do the right things without too much effort or additional cost.

Marcus Adams
Truro, Cornwall

SIR – It shouldn’t take a television documentary or a photo of waste mountains to alert us to the problem of plastic in our environment.

The mountain of waste will only disappear if we stop creating it in the first place. Consumers have an urgent collective responsibility to choose non-plastic alternatives. These are not so widely (or cheaply) available at present. But manufacturers simply supply what consumers want – so if, for example, we only buy milk in reusable glass or edible seaweed containers, plastic use will be consigned to the bin.

Stella Currie
Bramhall, Cheshire

 

SIR – The time is coming when waste will have to be incinerated. I am sure we are technologically advanced enough to do it sensibly. Other countries do – so why can’t we?

Anne Senneck
Hartley, Kent

 

The hypocrisy of Nick Clegg’s Facebook move

SIR – Sir Nick Clegg has clearly learnt nothing from the tuition fees episode. Shamelessly, he has now opted to 
take the Facebook shilling.

And politicians wonder why we have so little confidence in them.

Richard Allen
Hampton Hill, Middlesex

 

SIR – Some people seem surprised that Sir Nick has taken up employment with Facebook, a company he previously criticised. Is it not the role of current politicians to have malleable moral viewpoints?

Nigel Strawbridge
Newquay, Cornwall

 

SIR – It takes the £1 million-plus salary being paid by Facebook to persuade Sir Nick that he no longer has influence in the political debate.

What price Tony Blair?

Jack Rees
Tadley, Hampshire

 

Doctors in Parliament

SIR – The criticism of Dr Dan Poulter’s medical work outside Parliament is curious.

An MP who does this is more likely to have his feet on the ground and be better informed about the outside world. Dr Poulter’s training as a psychiatrist will also prove useful in view of the behaviour of some members in the Commons.

As parliamentary private secretary to John Major between 1994 and 1997, I continued to operate at Guy’s Hospital as the professor of surgery, doing on average 30 hours a week. Are those MPs doing on average only 4.6 hours a week outside Parliament perhaps a little work-shy?

Lord McColl (Con)
London SW1

 

SIR – I am more concerned by part-time doctors moonlighting in politics than MPs with too much time on their hands doing jobs outside Parliament.

A doctor cannot gain the necessary experience to be a competent consultant by undertaking training part-time, nor can patients have any confidence in a doctor whose professional focus is elsewhere.

John Sheridan Smith
Southampton

 

Half-ton Clem

Clement Attlee
Clement Attlee Credit: pa

SIR – I, as a Conservative, would like to lend my support to Robert Whittle’s suggestion (Letters, October 20) that our former Labour prime minister, Clement Attlee, should feature on the new £50 note.

First, he presided over the creation of the modern welfare state, accepted now by all parties, while remaining a British patriot. Margaret Thatcher, though of equal stature in our more recent history, would perhaps be too divisive.

Secondly, it would be refreshing if the Government, apparently obsessed with diversity, could make a decision based on merit rather than gender, race or religion.

Michael Staples
Seaford, East Sussex

 

High street homes

SIR – If we are to save the high street and make it a more varied place (Letters, October 16), we need to encourage shop landlords to convert any accommodation overhead into lettable flats.

This will help to alleviate the housing shortage, increase the number of local shoppers, and give landlords a boost to their income to offset business rates.

Ron Wheeler
Plymouth Civic Society
Plymouth, Devon

 

Role of Ofsted

SIR – Sean Hartford, Ofsted’s National Director for Education (Letters, October 20), is correct. He says: “Ofsted does not recommend – or approve – any particular tools, approaches or styles when it comes to how schools are run.”

This is why, as a former assistant headteacher, I believe that the entire Ofsted edifice has, since its inception, been an enormous waste of public money.

It is akin to sending your car to a garage which cannot correct mechanical faults, or visiting a 
doctor who cannot recommend curative action.

Ray Shakespeare-Smith
Hitchin, Hertfordshire

 

Where to find spiders hanging out this autumn

a spider’s web catches the light on an autumn tree in Yorkshire
Arachnid artistry: a spider’s web catches the light on an autumn tree in Yorkshire Credit: paul miguel/alamy

SIR – Keith Phillips (Letters, 
October 20) wonders where the spiders have gone.

He needn’t worry. They are alive and well and living with me in Poulton-le-Fylde.

Professor Margaret MacKeith
Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire

 

SIR – Most of them are in my narrowboat. Despite all windows, doors and vents being firmly closed, the boat is swarming. It is a mystery how they gain entry.

Nigel Williams
Aston Rowant, Oxfordshire

 

SIR – One of them (Araneus diadematus) appeared in my greenhouse.

It is a beautiful creature. I can’t get to my tomatoes as it would mean destroying its web.

Robert Ward
Loughborough, Leicestershire

 

SIR – As a serious arachnophobe I dread the autumn months and the sight of a monster house spider scuttling across my floor. So I, too, have (thankfully) noticed their absence this year.

Elvina Parker
Overton, Hampshire

 

SIR – The spiders in my house have been replaced by hordes of woodlice – and a newt.

Chris Gordon
Boston, Lincolnshire

 

SIR – They are living in my kitchen, where they provide a welcome snack for my Siamese cat, Mia.

Each morning there are spiders’ legs on the floor. I suspect there is very little meat on them.

Susan Fellows
Willington, Cheshire

 

SIR – What I want to know is: where have all the daddy-long-legs gone?

Camilla Borradaile
Blandford Forum, Dorset

 

TV tribulations

SIR – John Hinton (Letters, October 19) suggests switching a smart TV off at the plug to prevent it from switching itself on.

However, this will cause it to reboot when it is plugged back in, and it will take even longer to start showing programmes than those old-style TVs with cathode ray tubes that had to “warm up”.

Michael Bacon
Bordon, Hampshire

 

SIR – Our smart TV woke us up three nights out of four.

My solution is to turn the volume down to nil before switching it off.

Ros Mackay
Helston, Cornwall

 

Double screening

SIR – Can somebody explain to me 
why so many people go to the 
cinema in order to stare at their 
mobile phones?

Professor Gareth Williams
Berkeley, Gloucestershire

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