Blame Boris Johnson and not Keir Starmer for Brexit mess – Yorkshire Post Letters

RON Firth’s letter (The Yorkshire Post, June 7) is another bizarre example of Brexiteers blaming the wrong people for the mess Brexit has created.

It is obvious that Brexit isn’t working, but that is not down to the Labour Party. Mr Firth wants Sir Keir Starmer to support negotiations for a deal with the EU. Those negotiations are over. Boris Johnson announced he had an “oven-ready” deal with the EU in October 2019. In November 2019 Johnson said: “This deal delivers everything that I campaigned for, for Brexit.”

Labour had no part in those negotiations and no say in scrutinising the deal. Johnson did not allow MPs to vote on his “oven-ready “ deal until after the 2019 election when he had a majority of 82 and was guaranteed that the Bill would be voted through.

Those who supported the UK’s membership of the EU were not given a voice after the referendum. If we had, then maybe there would have been a “softer” Brexit and the UK could still be members of the Customs Union and the Single Market (as the Leave campaign had promised) and we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in now. That is down to Theresa May and Boris Johnson, not Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour Party.

From: Ken Cooke, Ilkley.

IT is very contradictory of Ron Firth to suggest that Labour should support the Government in getting ‘a proper EU deal’. With their large parliamentary majority, the Tories hardly need Labour support. He also appears to suppose that all Labour voters are in favour of Brexit, which is patently not the case. It is clear that at least half of them prefer to remain in the EU, as do a large number of Tory voters.

Why does he think there is scope for ‘a proper deal’, when Boris Johnson entered Brexit with ‘an oven-ready deal’, promising that we would be just as well off as before? It didn’t work out. Why? Because you can’t have your cake and eat it. As Michael Meadowcroft wrote, does he really believe one can leave a tennis club and still continue to play on its courts?

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today. Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you’ll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers. Click here to subscribe.