The ‘dividend’ is a lie – Brexit will make us worse off, not better

Claims by Theresa May that a “Brexit dividend” will help pay for a boost to NHS spending in England worth £20bn a year within five years are highly disingenuous. In this regards, the Tory chair of the Health Committee, Sarah Wollaston MP, is right in calling this claim “tosh”.

The UK will continue to pay into the EU through the transition until the end of 2020, and will pay £20bn of the “divorce bill” through to 2028. In addition, the UK government has committed to keep EU funding for agricultural subsidies, research and development and other key areas at the same level in the short term.

These are set figures so it will be at least 10 years before any “Brexit dividend” would materialise (if it ever did). Add to that Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts that public finances will be £15bn a year worse off by 2021, equivalent to £300m a week.

Ms May must come clean over whether she intends to finance this increased spend through increased taxes, increased borrowing or a combination of the two. Interestingly, if taxes rise, which they clearly have to, it is staggering hypocrisy for the Tories to have attacked the Scottish government’s boosting of the NHS north of the border through progressive tax changes, and then look to hike taxes themselves.

Alex Orr
Edinburgh

By obstructing the upskirting bill, Chope has colluded with those who the law was meant to punish

The Conservative MP Sir Christopher Chope claims he was “scapegoated” for blocking a bill to make upskirting a crime. To scapegoat is to blame the innocent to allow the guilty to go unpunished.

The innocent in this case are women who have intrusive photographs taken of them. The guilty include those who collude in making this possible.

Dr John Doherty
Stratford-upon-Avon

Take a leaf out of Melania’s book, Donald

Finally, a positive comment from the Trump family about the refugee issue, although it’s a pity it’s not from the one in charge. The comments from Melania Trump about breaking up families seems obvious, although it is pleasing to actually hear them being said.

There are reports of hundreds of children being detained – apparently in cages. This will do little to deter people trying to get across the border even though the “other side” is no longer seen as the country of the free. For a country that promotes itself as the best in the world, this event casts doubts on that claim.

Apparently there is a push for a get tough approach, although surely anyone who gets tough with children isn’t doing the right thing. Children should not be the playthings of a political debate; they should be running and playing.

Let the children go free.

Dennis Fitzgerald
Melbourne, Australia

Remainers need Question Time to remind us what we’re up against

Although I can understand why David Dimbleby may have tired of it, Tom Peck is so wrong to talk about the pointlessness of the Question Time audience.

The reason it’s important to watch “late middle-aged men screaming out from the Question Time audience, while knowing precisely zero of the issues they are so very angry about” is to remind ourselves of the idiocy behind the push for Brexit.

In the middle-class, liberal bubble that I inhabit I see little of this, therefore my weekly dose of xenophobic rage is helpful to keep me motivated in wanting to reverse Brexit. It’s why I’ll be marching in London on 23 June and demanding a People’s Vote. I WANT TO TAKE BACK CONTROL OF MY F***ING COUNTRY, NO F***ING IFS, NO F***ING BUTS. END OF!

Patrick Cosgrove
Bucknell, Shropshire

What’s the point of more NHS funding if it’s just to line Richard Branson’s pockets?

Theresa May has promised that the NHS is to get an extra £20bn a year by 2023.

Given the speed with which the Tories are privatising the NHS, why doesn’t she cut out the middle man and give the extra money straight to the likes of Richard Branson’s Virgin Care?

Sasha Simic
London

A conundrum

Some are suggesting that Brexit could cost every household £1,000 a year, while others suggest staying in Europe could cost the nation its very soul. Which is worse?

J Longstaff
​Buxted, East Sussex​