Letters to the Lincolnshire Free Press editor
He’s the most incompetent Prime Minister in living memory
I have to admit to being completely flabbergasted by Craig Jackson’s letter (Free Press, January 12) regarding our departure from the European Union.
The views expressed belong to a parallel universe and there is clearly no point in revisiting the arguments for remaining in the EU.
However, I must question some of Mr Jackson’s assertions.
Is leaving the EU (where we were equal partners with as big a say as anyone else) really ‘the salvation of our freedom’ or does it reduce us to the status of a small island nation beholden to unaccountable big business and to the United States?
Does Mr Jackson really believe that Britain alone (or, quite possibly, England and Wales alone) will have anything like the influence on world affairs as it did within the European Union?
Does he not notice that the only heads of state applauding this act are Presidents Trump and Putin, both of whom are delighted at the weakening of Britain and Europe?
What is the value of ‘sovereignty’ in a world where global co-operation is key?
And whose sovereignty? Certainly not that of our Parliament, whom the Prime Minister is happy to bypass if it is likely to conflict with his own ideas.
I was even more amazed at his adulation of Boris Johnson, surely the most inadequate, incompetent Prime Minister of this country in living memory.
Even the Daily Telegraph objected to his untrue reports when he was their EU correspondent from Brussels, and his whole career as Mayor of London, as Foreign Secretary and now as Prime Minister, has been based on self-promotion and airy promises that come to nothing.
As for his claim to have ‘got Brexit done’, all he has done is to agree a trade deal that has already resulted in lorry queues and massively increased paperwork for businesses, and to have restricted freedom of movement, which prevents student exchanges and makes life very difficult for the arts – not to mention future problems with tourism.
Co-operation on security and policing has been been compromised, there is no agreement on services, which account for so much of our economy, and Northern Ireland is struggling to maintain its supply chains.
Much of our future relationship with Europe will not be settled for some considerable time and in no way has ‘Brexit been done’.
I would also question the wisdom of conducting these negotiations during an unprecedented pandemic.
It seems likely that the euphoria at leaving the EU distracted the Government from recognising the threat of COVID-19 before it reached Britain early last year, and certainly it seemed extraordinary that negotiations on the trade agreement were continuing during the recent resurgence of infection.
Both the departure from the EU and the ongoing pandemic are major issues needing undivided attention and both have suffered from its lack. Not only has Mr Jackson’s ‘superb prime minister’ rushed through an ill-thought out trade deal with the EU but his lack of leadership, lack of forward planning, and huge wastage of money on outsourcing contracts to private companies with no expertise but with links to the Conservative party have led to Britain becoming literally ‘the sick man of Europe’ with both the worst death rate from COVID and the worst economic damage, which can only be exacerbated by the break with our major trading partners.
Anna Maxey
Spalding