Category Archives: Brexit

Suella Braverman said some civil servants are resisting post-Brexit reforms as they cannot imagine life outside of the EU. Therefore, Express.co.uk is asking readers if YOU think officials are attempting to wreck Brexit.

Vote in our poll below and let us know more about your opinion in the comments section at the end of the article.

Our poll comes after the Attorney General blasted sections of the civil service for having a "Remain bias".

While the Brexiteer insisted many civil servants are "brilliant", she said others are unable to "conceive of the possibility of life outside of the EU".

In an astonishing claim, Mrs Braverman said some of the "biggest battles" she has faced in Government have been with civil servants rather than in the Commons.

She said: That was something I didnt expect, if Im honest."

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Speaking to the Telegraph, Mrs Braverman added: "Ive learnt, not only during my time as Attorney but also during my time as a Brexit minister ... Some of the biggest battles you face as a minister are, in the nicest possible way, with Whitehall and internally with civil servants, as opposed to your political battles in the chamber.

There are thousands of civil servants. In large part, they are brilliant. They work really hard.

"Im supported, in particular, by a team of brilliant lawyers and officials... Dont take this as an opportunity to bash the Civil Service.

READ MORE:Andrew Neil unveils new Tony Blair plot to reverse Brexit

Mrs Braverman insisted Brexit was a "great" opportunity for the UK to unshackle itself from Brussels' cumbersome rules and bureaucracy.

She added that the Brexit Opportunities Bill is absolutely critical to pave the way for ministers to tear up retained EU rules.

The Attorney General's comments come after former Brexit minister Lord Frost said the civil service still "regrets" the UK's departure from the bloc six years later.

Speaking last month, the Tory peer told GB News: "I think it's still there, it's definitely been weakened since 2016, people have got used to the idea.

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Brexit POLL: Are civil servants trying to wreck UK's exit from EU? Vote HERE - Express

While giving his Sunday Sermon on TalkTV, Brexiteer and former leader of Reform UK Richard Tice noted how a second Scottish independence referendum would have far-reaching consequences for the other UK nations than Brexit itself. Due to its 300-year symbiotic relationship with the UK, Scotland could profoundly damage the rest of the UK, should it move ahead with IndyRef2 and become independent.

Speaking to TalkTV viewers, Richard Tice said: "There are all sorts of discussions about whether or not its right to have a referendum and what the Scots may vote. And Im thinking, well, hang on, folks. There are another 62 million people in the United Kingdom. And weve all been together for a while, in fact, over 300 years.

"And theres not enough chat about whats the impact on the rest of us of Scotland bailing out. Because let me tell you, that impact would make Brexit look like a walk in the park.

"It really, really would because over 300 years, weve become so intertwined.

Drawing an analogy between the UK and a human body, Mr Tice said: "Every sinew, if you imagine a human body, its like all the muscles that go everywhere: the sinews, the veins, the vessels, the muscles, the bones going through the body."

"If you chop off a limb of that body, its going to hurt the limb," Richard Tice said. "But its also crucially going to hurt the rest of the body. And thats how we should look at this for the whole issue of Scottish independence.

"And it seems to me that we should perhaps take a lesson out of those who wanted a second vote after the negotiations of the withdrawal agreement. You remember those folks, the people of 'The Peoples Vote' crowd who said: 'well, we didnt what we were voting for. So having negotiated the withdrawal agreement, then, lets have another vote, shall we?'

"So, surely the lesson to learn from this is lets negotiate the withdrawal agreement of Scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom before the vote. And then everyone knows what theyre voting for without any doubt whatsoever."

READ MORE:IDS slams elites for locking to Europe in plan to slash red tape

During the 2016 Brexit referendum, former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron put the UK membership to the EU to the British people without detailing what Brexit would entail in practice.

Though the referendum was legally non-binding, Mr Cameron resigned following the leave vote result and the two subsequent Prime Ministers, Theresa May and Boris Johnson, promised to implement the result.

Eventually, Boris Johnson did despite several persisting issues like the Northern Ireland conundrum and the repeated delays in checks on EU goods.

Now, Nicola Sturgeon is pressing ahead with a second Scottish independence referendum of which she has not given the exact details. If she succeeds in delivering on her promise, a number of issues will have to be sorted out such as a potential trade border between Scotland and England and the currency Scotland would adopt if it were to join the EU.

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'Make Brexit look like a walk in the park' IndyRef2 threatens UK's economic strength - Express

Brexit red tape is posing an existential threat to years-long efforts to save several endangered animal species including cheetahs, monkeys and cockatoos from extinction, zoo keepers have said.

Transfers of animals for conservation programmes involving Ireland, Britain and the European Union have plunged from 1,400 in 2019 to just 48 last year, the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) said.

The group is demanding that Taoiseach Michel Martin and British prime minister Boris Johnson urgently broker a side deal to overcome bureaucratic hurdles which are making transfers impossible in cases as a result of the UKs decision to pull out of the European Union.

Dublin Zoo, Fota Wildlife Park and Belfast Zoo, all members of BIAZA who have a leading role in international breeding programmes to protect endangered species, are signatories to a letter to Mr Martin and Mr Johnson urging action.

Schemes at risk include efforts to save the critically endangered citron crested cockatoo and the geoldis monkey at Dublin Zoo, cheetahs and lechwe an antelope found in the wetlands of south central Africa at Fota Wildlife Park in Cork, as well as colobus monkeys and francois langurs at Belfast Zoo.

Eight years after Scotland said no to independence in its 2014 referendum, Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon now wants to put the issue back at the top of the agenda. In a speech to the Scottish parliament last week, the first minister set out the route map for holding a vote on the issue on October 19 next year. The question put to Scots would be the same as in the 2014 referendum  Should Scotland be an independent country? But holding a second referendum is shrouded in legal problems and theres no certainty it will even happen, as London Editor Denis Staunton explains.

The zoos say they are struggling to cope with incredible challenges because of the lack of alignment between the EU and the UK, leading to excessive and prohibitive regulations.

Conservation relies heavily on the transfer of endangered species across international borders. Programmes are also in place to protect the survival of orangutans, lemurs and parrots.

In the letter to Mr Martin and Mr Johnson, the zoos warn the excessive (and in some cases prohibitive) regulations between Britain and the EU is an existential threat to these carefully co-ordinated breeding programmes.

Not only are transfers between zoos in Britain and Ireland (and Northern Ireland) being prevented but animals can now no longer be transited through Britain on onward journeys into the EU which previously allowed for the fastest (and hence best possible welfare) journeys, they wrote.

This is completely undermining the conservation impact of BIAZA member zoos, in all these nations.

Both the Taoiseach and prime minister have been asked to strike an EU-UK sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement, which the zoos say could return the transfer of endangered zoo animals to levels seen prior to Brexit.

Nicky Needham, senior manager at BIAZA, said it was hugely frustrating that the transfer of animals, from langur monkeys to cheetahs has been made so much more difficult following Brexit.

He added: Our zoos now face impossible hurdles and delays to partaking in international breeding programmes. We urge the Irish and UK governments to move to protect the world-leading conservation efforts of our zoos and aquariums.

Other signatories to the letter include Ardmore Open Farm, Dingle Oceanworld Aquarium, Galway Atlantaquaria, Secret Valley Wildlife Park, Tayto Park, Tropical World Alcorns, Exploris Aquarium and WWT Castle Espie.

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Brexit bureaucracy posing threat to endangered species, say zoo keepers - The Irish Times

4 July 2022, 18:22

True blue Brexit believers are on the back foot, Andrew Marr has said.

Opening LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr, the presenter addressed opinions on how Brexit has gone after a YouGov poll revealed 61 per cent of people think the government has handled Brexit badly.

"Another recent poll asks how well Brexit has gone and 54 per cent said 'fairly' or 'very badly', just 2 per cent said 'very well," Andrew said.

"Brexiteers are, it seems, are blaming anyone but themselves. Suella Braverman said Brexit is being wrecked by pro-EU civil servants. People the Sun today calls 'the new enemy within'.

"Others blame the BBC or the EU itself, or Labour, even though it's out of power. Interestingly, there are Tories who blame Boris Johnson for not having sufficient grip."

Watch Tonight with Andrew Marr exclusively on Global Player every Monday to Thursday from 6pm to 7pm

Andrew continued: "The Labour leader Keir Starmer finally laying out his policy towards the EU after Brexit. This is of massive concern to the Tories as they contemplate the possibility to losing power in due course, perhaps to a Lib-Lab coalition government.

"There are few more powerful voices on the right of politics than the veteran Sun columnist Trevor Kavanagh and today he warns the prime minister to get a grip, or it's the end of the Tories.

"Worried about Tony Blair's influence in the background, he says a Labour alliance with the Lib Dems would mean scrapping our voting system, a dagger aimed at the heart of the Conservative Party and Brexit.

You can also listen to the podcast Tonight with Andrew Marr only on Global Player.

"Trevor finishes: 'It is a lethal recipe for perpetual coalition and the end of the Tories as the most successful political party in UK history.'

"These are arguments you're going to hear up to and during the next election campaign, whenever it comes, and whoever is leading the Conservative Party by then."

He added: "The Chris Pincher sex pest scandal isn't, to be honest, the biggest story of the year, but it's piling new pressure on the prime minister and that has the effect on his future, on voters, and one day, perhaps, on our relationship with the EU.

"This is politics, and everything connects."

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Andrew Marr: True blue Brexit believers are on the back foot - LBC

A reduction in food business inspections and the delay in full import controls are two major issues identified by a recent report on food standards.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS)report covers 2019 to 2021, a period when the United Kingdom was affected by leaving the European Union and the COVID-19 pandemic.

A fall in the number of inspections of businesses is due to resourcing pressures faced by local authorities. The delay in establishing full UK imports controls for high-risk food like meat, dairy and eggs from the EU has reduced the ability to prevent unsafe food entering the UK market. These checks should be in place by the end of 2023.

Findings come amid plans to cut the number of civil servants to 2016 levels in three years, a loss of full access to the EUs Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) and losing a place in the Heads of Food Safety Agencies, agroup of EU bodies that meet to share good practices.

Positive findings but challenges remainFSA chair, Susan Jebb, said the report provides reassurance that high food standards in the UK have been upheld during a tough period for the food system.

We are under no illusions that there are major challenges ahead. Establishing full UK import controls on food from the EU by the end of next year is a priority. The longer the UK operates without assurance that products from the EU meet our high food and feed safety standards, the less confident we can be that we can effectively identify potential safety incidents, she said.

As the report also points out, local authority inspections declined during the reporting period. Even though there are signs of improvement, particularly on hygiene inspections, local authorities continue to face resourcing constraints which could affect progress.

The FSA and FSS said that food safety standards havelargely been maintained in the period. However, thepandemic disrupted regular inspections, sampling and audits,reducing the amount of data to assess business complianceagainst food law. It also changed patterns of consumer behavior.

About 40 million tons of food are imported from abroad each year. The EUremains the biggest supplier, accounting for over 90 percent of beef, dairy, eggsand pork products imported into the UK and nearly two-thirds of all foodand feed not of animal origin.

British Lion Eggs urged retailers and foodservice operators to use domestic eggs instead of importing them.

Andrew Joret, British Egg Industry Council chairman, said: There have been ongoing food safety issues associated with non-UK eggs for many years and it is essential that effective food safety controls are in place for imports to ensure British consumer are protected from any potential risks, particularly vulnerable groups. This report confirms that the current controls on the import of eggs are not sufficient and until they are, any operator choosing to sell imported eggs is taking a gamble with the health of their customers.

Picture of incident reportingAnalysis of compliance in import controls between 2020and 2021 shows there has not been any meaningful change in the standard ofimported goods due to the pandemic or Brexit.

There was a rise in reports of contamination by microorganismsfrom 360 in 2019 to 584 in 2021, as a result of more advanced surveillance such as Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) to track the source ofoutbreaks and Salmonella in breadedchicken products. Therewas a nearly three-fold increase inpoultryrelated incidents following aseries of Salmonella outbreaks in breaded chicken from Poland in2020 and 2021, which affected more than 1,000 people.

There was a fall in incidents related to food allergens from 355 in 2019 to 272 in 2021. Ethyleneoxide in sesame seeds from India accounted for many reported cases of chemicalcontamination in 2020 and 2021.

There were 100 disruptions of criminal activity in the supply chainreported by the UKs two food crime units in 2021. Five cases in Scotland havebeen referred to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, with three being considered as seriousoffences. Last year also saw the first prosecution after an investigationby the National Food Crime Unit (NFCU), related to the sale of 2,4 dinitrophenol(DNP) and other offences linked to controlled drugs and prescriptiononly medicines.

The growth in e-commerceis creating complexity by increasing the number of online businesses. Online marketplaces are not inherently risky, but they allow new businesses to pop up very quickly, with the associated risk that many may beunregistered and operating without adequate oversight or inspection.

FSS chair, Heather Kelman, said the reports findings were encouraging but the effects of Brexit and the pandemic are still being felt, and will continue to impact food systems for years to come.

This joint report comes at what we believe is a make or break juncture for food quality and safety, as we transition into a post-pandemic landscape and take on new responsibilities following our departure from the EU, she said.

(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News,click here.)

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UK reviews COVID and Brexit impact on food standards - Food Safety News

1. Northern Ireland: Post-Brexit Bill to Get Second Reading in House of Commons  Bloomberg
2. 'No other PM would have done this!' Boris blasted over Brexit - UK 'protagonist' in EU row  Express
3. UK bill to switch off Northern Ireland Brexit rules clears first hurdle  POLITICO Europe
4. Johnson's move to rewrite Brexit rules clears 1st hurdle  ABC News
5. NI Protocol: MPs to vote on plans to ditch parts of Brexit deal  BBC
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Northern Ireland: Post-Brexit Bill to Get Second Reading in House of Commons - Bloomberg

Twenty-four years ago, people from across the island of Ireland came out in huge numbers to vote in support of the Good Friday (Belfast) agreement. Their vote was a clear vote against conflict and violence, to ensure that all children on the island of Ireland would be able to grow up in peace. This was a genuinely remarkable and defining moment.

The agreement was explicitly built on the principles of partnership, equality and mutual respect. Its defining legacy has been to commit everyone to pursue dialogue in order to resolve differences.

The EU played a vital role in the peace process. The architects of the agreement were keenly aware of the EU itself as a peace project one based on international cooperation and mutual understanding. To people across Ireland, EU membership and the single market opened a shared space where there was once division. Over the past three decades, the EU has invested more than 1.5bn in programmes for peace and cross-border cooperation.

When the UK took the decision to leave the EU, it was clear that both sides, the EU and the UK, would need to find a common solution to protect the Good Friday agreement and preserve the precious peace for all people.

That solution, reached through long and hard negotiations, is the Northern Ireland protocol.

It is the solution that the British government agreed to two years ago.

It expressly recognises Northern Irelands constitutional status and the principle of consent as set out in the Good Friday agreement.

Crucially, we also wanted to give Northern Ireland continued access to the EU single market of more than 450 million consumers.

Concluding the withdrawal agreement and the protocol paved the way for finalising the EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement.

People and businesses in Northern Ireland are benefiting from this every day. Figures show that Northern Irelands economy is recovering more quickly from the pandemic than most other regions in the UK. Interest in investing in Northern Ireland is at an all-time high, with companies winning contracts because of their single-market access. We look forward to seeing Northern Irelands businesses in key sectors, such as manufacturing, dairy and the food industry, grow further through these opportunities.

Throughout the negotiations, the EU has listened attentively to the views of citizens and businesses most impacted, including those in the unionist community.

And we not only listened. Having heard genuine concerns from people in Northern Ireland, the EU brought forward proposals to simplify the movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, changed its own laws to address concerns around the supply of medicines, and committed to giving stakeholders in Northern Ireland a greater say in how the protocol works.

This package struck a fair and reasonable balance between two key imperatives: to fully respect the letter and spirit of the Good Friday agreement, thereby protecting the gains of the peace process; and to maintain the high standards, including of public and food safety, that EU citizens expect from the single market.

Unfortunately, the British government chose not to engage in good faith with these proposals. Instead of the path of partnership and dialogue, it has chosen unilateralism.

There is no legal or political justification for unilaterally breaking an international agreement entered into only two years ago. The tabling of legislation will not fix the challenges around the protocol. Instead, it will create a new set of uncertainties and make it more challenging to find durable solutions.

We know and understand that the people of Northern Ireland want certainty, stability and predictability, for their future and the future of their children. We saw this in the recent assembly elections, where 52 of the 90 MLAs elected are supportive of the protocol.

That is why the EU stands by the protocol and why its proposals remain on the table. We are open to being flexible and creative because we believe the protocol can work to the benefit of all in Northern Ireland.

In these difficult times, as Russia is leading a ruthless war in Ukraine, breaking with our European peace order, the EU and UK must stand together as partners with shared values and a commitment to uphold and strengthen the rules-based international order.

We urge the British government to step back from their unilateral approach and show the same pragmatism and readiness to compromise the EU has shown.

By working together in partnership and with mutual respect common ground can be found and challenges, no matter how difficult, overcome.

Annalena Baerbock is Germanys minister for foreign affairs. Simon Coveney TD is Irelands minister for foreign affairs and defence

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Northern Ireland wants stability. Tearing up the Brexit agreement will put peace and prosperity at risk - The Guardian

The British economic debate is bewildering, marooned in a discourse in which the pivotal economic fact of 2022 is ignored. The chancellor and governor of the Bank of England will talk about the dangers of inflation, of the risk of a wage price spiral and the need for pay restraint but never about the escalating sterling crisis and what lies behind it. Nor will the opposition lay into them for their vows of silence equally anxious to avoid mentioning the dread word or its baleful economic impact.

But Brexit is not going away. It cannot be avoided. Last week, we learned that in the first three months of this year Britains current account deficit was the worst since records began in 1955. It stood at a stunning 8.3% of GDP the kind of deficit recorded by banana republics before they collapse into slump, banking crises and hyperinflation.

The figures are so terrifyingly bad that even a shaken Office for National Statistics cautions that it is uncertain about the quality of its own data. But the core reality cannot be dodged and revisions will impact only at the margins rather than reverse the story: real export volumes over the period are down 4.4% and import volumes up a gigantic 10.4%.

The apologists point to exploding energy costs, statistical vagaries, the ongoing distortions of Covid, weak world markets, supply chain effects. What cannot be mentioned is Brexit and the obvious depressive impact it is having on UK exports and inward investment flows. The refusal of the governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, even to acknowledge what is happening and why is beginning to be a source of lack of market confidence in itself. Independence was to give the Bank a voice, not to be the governments ever loyal dupe. The foreign exchange markets are increasingly shaken: sterling was once again weak, slipping below $1.20 on Friday, against $1.31 three months earlier. Britain is entering dangerous territory the economy is falling into recession, investment is flat, while inflation, high across the industrialised world because of the fallout from the war in Ukraine, is highest in the UK largely because of the weak pound, which has no support from any quarter.

Without full access to the EU single market and customs union our largest market there is no possibility of an export recovery, nor a recovery in inward investment, nor a lifting of economic confidence. As the Bank of America warns, Britain faces an existential sterling crisis, made worse because of the refusal of the government and many economic commentators to look the truth in the eye.

The eerie parallel is the 1976 sterling crisis, triggered by the conviction of the foreign exchange markets that already very high inflation was certain to get out of hand. There was nothing to prop up a falling pound, given the current account deficit was running at what seemed an unimaginable 4% of GDP half todays deficit.

The pound could not be steadied without buying time from the IMF with an enormous credit line. The government would then launch a package of tough spending cuts as the quid pro quo for the loan, fiercely resisted by the Labour lefts leaders Michael Foot and Tony Benn, which would simultaneously shrink the economy and thus the current account deficit. A floor would be put under sterling and therefore curb inflation, aided and abetted by a pay and incomes policy. The prime minister, James Callaghan, famously told a sullen Labour party conference that no other option existed, opening up irreconcilable arguments between its ultra left and social democratic wings that have plagued Labour ever since. But at least the UK was embedded in a network of strong trading relationships. Having just joined the Common Market, it could trade its way back to international creditworthiness, with North Sea oil soon reinforcing the impetus.

The task today is less fiscal belt-tightening and raising interest rates, although both may be forced upon us as sterlings fall accelerates: it is fully to reopen access to our largest market, the EU, to offer some prospect of export growth and inward investment. The strong economic performance that Northern Ireland is now experiencing within the single market needs to be reproduced across the kingdom.

A Tory prime minister, echoing Callaghan, is going to have to tell a sullen Tory party conference within the next couple of years that no other option exists that the alternative is ongoing high inflation, high interest rates, a property crash and economic stagnation. Impossible? Devaluing the pound inside the ERM or being forced out altogether seemed impossible in 1991 before it happened in 1992. Having to bail out the banking system seemed impossible in 2007 before it happened in 2008. The same inexorable forces are at work today and the consequent rows between the Tories pragmatic and its Brexit ultra wings will plague it for a generation too.

It was sad to see Tony Blair, trying to fashion a new political centre ground, insisting last week that the arguments over the EU are over. Brexit is done it wont be overturned for at least a generation, he said. It is not done. Radical centrism is not to identify what the centre right think and then to do it more nicely and more moderately, as the swarm of pollsters around him and the leader of the oppositions office seem to think. It is doing the right thing well and with conviction, around which the centre will coalesce.

Britain needs to be in the single market and customs union to have any prospect of price stability and growth. It needs to be within the political architecture of Europe for its own security, given the dark menace of Russia. And it needs to be within both to have any chance of holding Northern Ireland and Scotland in the union.

The British economic and political ship is foundering, damaged by the rock of Brexit; its captains need to be called out for their errant seamanship. A fundamental change of course is an imperative. The future political stars in both the Labour and Conservative parties are those with the courage to say so.

Will Hutton is an Observer columnist

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So the arguments over Brexit are done and dusted for a generation. Really, Tony Blair? - The Guardian

What do Brexit and the Swiss breakdown in relations with the EU have in common? According to a Swiss social historian, quite a lot.

Julie worked as a radio reporter for BBC and independent radio all over the UK before joining swissinfo.ch's predecessor, Swiss Radio International, as a producer. After attending film school, Julie worked as an independent filmmaker before coming to swissinfo.ch in 2001.

Switzerland has never been a European Union member but enjoys almost full access to the EUs internal market, thanks to 120 bilateral agreements. Attempts to update these with a new framework agreement collapsed in 2021 when the Swiss walked out of talks with the EU. The Financial Times dubbed the fallout Swexit in reference to Brexit, the divorce between the EU and the United Kingdom, as both countries had similar sticking points with the 27-country block.

To quote an FT editorialExternal link, Swexit is like Brexit in that two ancient democracies, chafing at the price tag and conditions of market access, have chosen a looser, more distant relationship.

SWI swissinfo.ch met up with Oliver Zimmer, a Swiss expert in modern European history, who takes a closer look at the similarities between the two countries in their troubled relations with the EU. Zimmer is in a good position to compare the two: he was a renowned Oxford University professor who recently returned to Switzerland after 27 years in the UK. He now works for CREMAExternal link, the Zurich-based Center for Research in Economics Management and the Arts.

When the Swiss framework agreement broke down, the government cited disagreements on salary protection, state aid rules and the access of EU citizens to Swiss social security benefits. The Swiss also dislike the idea of a dispute settlement mechanism in which the EU Court of Justice plays a role.

Zimmer says the EUs free movement of people agreement was a thorn in the side of both the UK and Switzerland, which expressed concern about citizens of poorer countries taking jobs and claiming benefits.

He adds that both countries were also worried about border control issues. Opponents of the framework agreement say it weakens Switzerlands national sovereignty and could be the first step toward creeping EU accession. Meanwhile, pro-Brexit advocates wanted Britain to take back control from European Union governments and bureaucrats. A UK government document External linkon the EU exit states: This deal takes back control of our borders, our laws and our money, and protects our economy, our security, and our United Kingdom.

In a June 2022 edition of the Economist, the magazine argues that Brexit has negatively impacted the UK economy, leading to lower business investment and exports, among other things. Nevertheless, according to the BBC,External link research suggests public attitudes on Brexit havenot shifted significantlysince the 2016 referendum. A majority would still vote to leave.

Businesses and economists in Switzerland have warned the end of the framework agreement would also have significant economic impactfor the Swiss as well. For a start, the EU hasdowngraded Switzerland to non-associate statusin the Horizon programme, which hands out grants and access to prestigious scientific projects. Yet, in its recent meetings with the EU to try to rescue the bilaterals, there was no obvious sign that Switzerland was prepared to compromise over the sticking points. It remains stuck.

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Swexit and Brexit: The UK and Switzerland's fall out with the EU - SWI swissinfo.ch in English

Reading about Brexit and its emerging realities on the sixth anniversary of the UK voting to leave the EU (Brexit is making cost of living crisis worse, new study claims, 22 June), I was reminded of the Hans Christian Andersen story The Emperors New Clothes. Here, the weavers persisted with the lie that they were creating the most fantastic set of clothes for the emperor. He believed them, despite the fact that there was no evidence of their existence. So certain was he of this false narrative that he led a public procession celebrating their wearing, only for a child to say: Hes got nothing on.

As Covid drifts away, along with the other excuses touted by the Brexit brethren, the businesses, farmers, fishers and scientists of Britain are now realising the horrible truth: Brexit was a fraud of giant proportions. Disconnecting from its neighbouring and biggest trading partner was always foolish and, in economic terms, suicidal.

The weavers of Brexit convinced voters that they would get their sovereignty back, even though they never lost it. They spun stories of incredible wealth generated from all sorts of magic trade deals, even though former British leaders such as Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher were exponents of a Europe that would make trade its central theme and that, along with a suite of rights-based initiatives based on proper human values, would outlaw war from within for future generations.

At least the emperor finally realised his folly. Its time the British people realised the same sooner rather than later.Samus BolandBallycumber, County Offaly, Ireland

On the sixth anniversary of the Brexit vote, a reminder of some of the points made by the Vote Leave campaign: If we vote leave, we can create a fairer, more humane immigration system. We can have a friendlier relationship with the EU based on trade. Well be free to trade with the whole world. We send more than 350m to the EU every week enough to build a modern hospital every week of the year. Heaven forbid that we were lied to, or did I just miss something?Mel WoodDublin

Labour is going to improve, not scrap the Brexit deal, says David Lammy (Report, 23 June). May I suggest an area for improvement? We took our border terrier to the vet last week in preparation for a holiday in the EU. At a cost of almost 200, we received a complex 10-page Animal health certificate for the non-commercial movement to a member state from a third country of dogs with some 22 official veterinary stamps. This was unnecessary before Brexit and, if a Labour government were willing to approach discussions with the EU constructively, is hardly likely to be considered necessary now.

For the future, the vets practical advice was to bypass the certificate and associated costs by obtaining a pet passport issued in the EU. Oh, that we humans could choose to take a similar approach. Steven LorberLondon

Would any of the Boris Johnson cheerleaders who praise his leadership on Ukraine and close relationship with its president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, care to explain why they maintain their disdain for the EU despite the clear advantages that Ukraine sees in becoming a member?Ian ArnottPeterborough

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Six years on, the cold reality of Brexit is hitting Britain - The Guardian