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Letter was an insult

I HAVE over the last 46 years of buying the Adver read brilliant contributors, people from all walks of life. I also admit to having read points of view against my own with relish.

However the letter from Adam Poole (29th April) must be the most patronising drivel ever to appear on the letter pages. I must hand it to him regarding his audacity. I will await Terry Reynolds’ and Des Morgan’s replies, to mention a few of many, to rip him apart with true facts. I would rather walk my dog on a summers day.

I quote this individual: “The British people did not know what they were voting for.” I beg your pardon, Sir. Your comments on over 17 million people not knowing what we were voting for insults my intelligence. How can anyone inform over 17 million people they were wrong?I voted to leave the European Disunion, but I respect the people who beg to differ and their points of view. It is called democracy.

Another point, his childish remark in referring to the UKIP as kippers. Shows his true contempt and disrespect regarding educated principle and proper reference.

BILL WILLIAMS, Merlin Way, Covingham, Swindon

No easy answers

ONCE again Adam Poole attempts to suggest that voters who had the audacity to cast a vote to leave the EU didn’t know that in doing so the country might have to leave the Single Market even though it was a central theme of the Project Fear campaign; something articulated by then Prime Minister David Cameron and members of the government and a key point mentioned in the information leaflet produced by the Government and sent to every UK household, a leaflet which Pat Glass Labour MP for NW Durham claimed “will, at least, set out the facts”.

I’m sure Mr Poole accepts the EU Commission’s insistence that unless the UK is prepared to accept the four so called ‘freedoms’ and the authority of the ECJ they will not have access to the Single Market; added to which is a supposed divorce settlement said to be in excess of 50 billion Euros and a number of other conditions not mentioned in any Article 50 documentation.

I refute Mr Poole’s suggestion that I claimed leaving the Single Market was an intrinsic part of the Referendum vote; I made the point very clearly that “in voting to leave the control of the EU bureaucracy the UK recognised that it might not be a part of the Single Market if the remaining 27 countries were unwilling to offer an accommodation”. For my part I was under no illusion that leaving the EU (a political construct) would mean leaving the institutions of the EU.

He is quite correct in that some people have suggested the UK should leave the Single Market whilst others have indicated that we should do whatever it takes to remain; for my part I would like the UK to have access to the Single Market either by a FTA or under WTO rules. Interestingly the EU has no FTA with either China or the USA and yet both enjoy bilateral trading with the EU. Incidentally, Mr Poole is correct in claiming the EU has signed limited trade agreements with countries across the world, what he does not say is that many of the countries with which they have concluded agreements cannot really be described as major economies such as China, India, the USA or Brazil.

The EU most certainly does prevent the UK from trading freely with the world in that membership of the Customs Union determines the rate of duty applicable to all imports, as a protectionist body the EU designs tariffs and regulations to benefit member countries, often to the detriment of emerging markets.

The fact that the EU remains the UK’s largest trading partner might have nothing to do with Britain’s EU membership. It makes sense that a large proportion of Britain’s trade is conducted with the rest of the EU. Some but not all of the other members are rich countries on Britain’s doorstep, so they would be its largest trading partners even if the EU did not exist. It is difficult to imagine why the EU is so determined to ‘hurt’ the UK as the economic necessity of reciprocity demands compromise and accommodation.

Unlike Mr Poole I accept that a majority of voters indicated a wish to leave the EU. I also believe they did so in the full knowledge that leaving would not be pain free (freedom is seldom without price) and that the EU would make life difficult for us. They could of course just say – okay guys, let’s trade as friends and neighbours with mutual benefits accruing. But that would be too easy, wouldn’t it?

DES MORGAN, Caraway Drive, Swindon

The nuclear option

THERE’S lot of talk about “who would press the button” in the event of nuclear war.

Well, PM Theresa May is an interesting one to answer that question because her father was a vicar… a parson person.

I suppose we have gone past the simplistic “praise the Lord and pass the ammunition” phase.

Do people who describe themselves as religious have a new angle on all-out war?

We have long since passed the bow and arrow stage of combat. It is more of a wipe out the world stage.

MAX NOTTINGHAM, St Faith’s Street, Lincoln

Flytippers are selfish

IT’S all very well people saying the revised opening times for the household recycling centre in Swindon will lead to an increase in fly-tipping, but it seems to be a major problem anyway, even with the times being cut at the recycling centre.

I actually have sympathy with the authorities, how can they police all the country lanes around Swindon, where ignorant, lazy, selfish people choose to dump their rubbish.

There simply is no straightforward answer to this, I wish I had one. All we can do is ask people to be more vigilant and report any rubbish they see dumped.

MRS P ALLEN, Stratton St Margaret