ES Views: We can’t take non-EU deals after Brexit for granted

As Brexit talks with the EU are unlikely to bring significant gains, deals with non-EU major economies such as the US, Japan, India and China become more important.

The UK needs to update its relations with India, the fastest-growing major economy. As the temporary negative impact of goods and service tax reforms disappears in a few months’ time, India’s GDP growth rate is set to accelerate to about eight per cent per annum in 2018. The UK, therefore, needs to increase co-operation and offer a level playing field for mutual benefits.

If we try to exploit India’s complex about imperial rule and attempt to secure a one-way deal in our favour, major economies such as India will refuse to make a deal with the UK. No country will let us get away with a deal in our favour; we need to approach negotiations with an open-minded stance.
Vipul Thakore

Exemplifying the aggression that seems to surface when Brexiteers face wise economic or social arguments against any form of leaving the EU, Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg isn’t doing the Brexit cause any favours with his attacks on Remain voters. This could be due to the increasing realisation and fear that public support for Brexit is slipping.

It is time Parliament took a more realistic view of the current will of the people and the growing unease over the idea of any form of Brexit. It must take responsibility for reviewing and acting on sensible plans to remain within the EU, and to take steps with the other members to make necessary changes from within.
John Macnab

It has become blatantly obvious that if we go back into the EU we would have to join the euro, which I suspect was the intention of the EU all along.

The other countries in the union are treating our country with contempt, despite the fact that they want to trade with us. They have failed to get us into the eurozone and this is the only way they can do it.

If we really want to put our country in danger then we will go back into the EU, with all its poverty in the eurozone.
Jill Byron

A collapsing top end of the market does nothing to encourage the bottom end, as a market works as a whole. There are no two parts — both require confidence.

Brexit is not helpful to our economic state but if it means we are to open to global business we should encourage rich households to come to London and spend their money here rather than in Paris, Rome or New York.
Henry Reid

Don't stop research on brain tumours

Your report about Maham and her family [“Family’s £100,000 race to treat girl’s deadly tumour”, August 10] reflects a scenario that we see time and time again where families receive a brain tumour diagnosis that has few treatment options available.

We are pleased that the Government is funding specialised proton beam centres from 2018 to deliver treatment in the UK. For those like Maham, this cannot come soon enough.

More than £500 million is spent on cancer research in the UK every year, yet only 1.5 per cent is on brain tumours. Research offers the only real hope of dramatic improvements in the management of brain tumours, which is why we have committed to investing £20 million into new research between 2015 and 2020 to try and find a cure.

Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of people under 40. This must change.
Sarah Lindsell, CEO, The Brain Tumour Charity

No call for food and drink in our theatres

People who want glass to be allowed in auditoria have probably not been cleaners or ushers in theatres. Why people feel the need to eat and drink during performances is beyond me.

At Saturday’s performances of Hamlet, someone dropped a beer bottle which tipped over from the row behind. Another patron seemed to be eating a meal out of cellophane. But then I am from a generation that learned self-control. If you want to eat and drink, go to a restaurant.
Jolyon Oxley

Put healthy eating back on the agenda

Good on Jamie Oliver for highlighting how the Government’s healthy eating strategy was swept by away by Theresa May and her Cabinet [August 9] when she become PM.

If one considers how much work went into the new law on sugar content in foods, it was a waste to ditch it. It is ludicrous that a change of leadership should result in shelving the plan.
Jackie Cattaneo

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Industrial energy costs are too high

The UK Government has launched an independent review into reducing energy costs. This is a welcome development for consumers and businesses alike but it only tells half of the story.

The average UK industrial electricity cost in 2016 was the third highest among G7 countries. This is not solely due to high energy costs but rather the hidden expenses of inefficient, ageing and electrically unsound equipment.

Ageing equipment consumes more energy because of inefficient electrical circuitry, which can also cause power quality problems such as electromagnetic interference (EMI), harmonic currents and voltage distortions in industrial plants and factories, resulting in higher energy bills.

Power specialists have long identified these problems and worked with businesses to address them but a Government-supported review of these hidden costs is necessary to spark change.

As the UK plans to position itself in a post-Brexit world, a review of the hidden industrial energy costs would signify the Government’s commitment to its domestic industry. Business leaders are already doing their part, so we must call on the Government to contribute.
Steve Hughes, managing director, REO UK

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Football's mavericks are sorely missed

Foreign football coaches have been brought to this country to develop the English game but too many of them use their powers in the transfer market instead to fill our leagues with overseas players. There must be a rule in football that no more than two non-homegrown players can play in any match.

Whatever happened to those wayward though gifted British footballers we loved to watch back in the Seventies and Eighties, such as QPR midfielder Tony Currie, Chelsea’s Alan Hudson or Tottenham’s Alan Gilzean? Nurturing British talent must be a priority.
L Sequeira

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