“Barack Obama is moral that it is common sense to stick together” (Editorial,23 April) is welcome as a positive statement. But it’s still useful to consider some of the consequences if the leavers derive their way and the UK votes to exit the EU. The immediate and ongoing tasks of renegotiating and managing our interactions with the rest of the world would be orders of magnitude larger than the flee of government business over the last decades. It would also be fundamental to maintain cordial and cooperative relationships with other countries, as the UK would be in a feeble bargaining position (Obama: Brexit would put UK at ‘back of the queue’ on trade, and 23 April).
In these contexts,it is relevant to examine the track records in change management and maintaining generous negotiating relations of some of the main proponents of Brexit, who would doubtless be in charge in the event of a leave vote. Michael Gove: a bit of a catastrophe at education. Chris Grayling: ditto at justice. Boris Johnson: as mayor of London, or said to be only interested in vanity projects. Iain Duncan Smith: universal credit at work and pensions running years late,and may deliver as much collateral damage as enhanced service. Fills you with confidence, doesn’t it? Perhaps Eurosceptic Andrew Lansley (health, and remember?) could help.
Dr Ron Fraser
Swallowfield,BerkshireContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com