Sir, I read with interest Daniel Finkelstein’s article (Dec 3; letters, Dec 4 & 5) recommending that the Labour Party should campaign to rejoin the EU customs union and single market. However, he suggested that Labour should campaign to join the customs union and single market “either inside or outside” the EU. These options are chalk and cheese. To argue to rejoin the EU, and thus the single market and customs union, makes a lot of sense. It would undoubtedly be difficult to negotiate and we would not be in on the favourable terms we had before, but we would be one of the largest member states and have a significant say in how it developed in line with our national interests, including access on the same terms as everyone else to the economic benefits of the single market and EU trade arrangements. Even though we would have to give up some of our current advantages, for instance on trade with the rest of the world, there is clearly a strong case to be made.
Becoming a member of the customs union or single market without being a member of the EU is an entirely different proposition. Realistically, the UK would have no influence over the rules of either institution. The rules would be set to benefit EU members and it would be a matter of luck whether that included the UK, just as joining the euro would not have served our economic interests. Yes, there would be some economic benefits but they would have to be weighed against our ability to organise our affairs to benefit the structure of our economy, which is not the same as that of many of our neighbours, quite apart from the arguments about money and free movement of people. The politics domestically would also be quite different.
John Alty
Visiting professor in practice, LSE European Institute; former permanent secretary, Department for International Trade
Sir, I voted Remain, but those who advocate reversing Brexit should be careful what they wish for. Like any new entrant to the EU, we would be obliged to accept the acquis communautaire in its entirety and enjoy none of the opt-outs negotiated so painfully at Maastricht, in particular the single currency, the social chapter and the Schengen agreement. The best of all worlds we once had — ie, in the EU club, but with exemptions — would simply not be on the table.
Alan Hunt
London SE26
Sir, Proposing rejoining the customs union as an election issue would be premature unless the electorate was fully aware of all the likely conditions and costs involved (“PM: We will keep promise not to rejoin customs union”, Dec 4). If the recent negotiations with the EU on participation in youth exchange schemes and defence contracts are an indicator, these costs and conditions may be very high.
Colin Harding
Preston
Sir, Remainers like to think that those who voted Leave did so because they were anti-immigration, but most voted primarily to recover control of our laws and regulations. They also wanted to stanch the flow of money to the EU (at the time an organisation largely directed by Germany), in which Britain seemed to have only a marginal influence despite being one of the largest financial contributors.
Mrs Frances Arthy
Chorleywood, Herts
Destroying jobs
Sir, A policy designed to raise living standards now threatens to destroy the very jobs it claims to protect. The government argues that increasing the national living wage lifts living standards and boosts the economy, but for labour-dependent sectors such as retail, hospitality and care, the impact is devastating (“How Westminster killed economic growth by baking in inflation”, Simon French, Dec 1).
In my own small business, staff costs have risen in line with the national living wage’s 43 per cent increase in five years, but sector growth has been close to zero. We now need annual revenue growth of 15 per cent just to stand still, something no small firm is achieving. The further 4.1 per cent rise in the national living wage from next April, with higher employer national insurance contributions, will push many businesses over the edge. The budget claims to support the high street yet imposes statutory cost increases that make survival mathematically impossible. A wave of closures is now inevitable.
James Macgregor
Petworth, W Sussex
Debating migration
Sir, Emma Duncan observes in her thoughtful article (“We do well on immigration, so let’s not ruin it”, comment, Dec 5) that “by constantly raising the subject of immigration” Nigel Farage “has turned views that were once considered out of bounds for the bien pensants into mainstream opinions”. The problem is that although these issues may always have been off-limits to “polite society”, they had long been the chief subject of concern for the millions of people most adversely, and widely, affected by mass immigration, particularly from the third world. It was Farage giving voice to people’s worries that led to Reform’s creation, at which point immigration could no longer be ignored by the traditional political class.
The two questions she does not address are why this whole issue remained off-limits for so long and, given that discussion of this topic has now been normalised, how all further immigration can be stopped if we are to avoid the “darker” future she fears.
Richard Longfield
Weston Patrick, Hants
Nigeria’s Christians
Sir, Further to your report “Church shooting in Nigeria adds fuel to Trump’s persecution claims” (Nov 20), we are encouraged that the claim that Nigeria’s Christians are being targeted is at last being taken seriously. There is a widely held belief that the violence in Nigeria’s north and Middle Belt is not, at heart, religious. As leaders representing tens of thousands of Nigerian Christians in the UK, we have been hearing a different story. We have been told of Christians from Benue state witnessing their families being killed in cold blood by militant Fulanis, who shout “We will destroy all Christians!” Believers kidnapped by Boko Haram were told by their captors: “If you were Muslim, you wouldn’t be tortured like this.”
The factors driving the violence in this region are complex and multifaceted. However, it is time we took the witness of Christians there seriously: they consider that they are facing a deliberate campaign to erase them from their land. Their experiences deserve to be heard.
Pastor Akinola Abiona, New Covenant Church, Equipping People, Croydon; Pastor Ayo Adedoyin, CEO, PSJUK, a UK charity advocating for peace and social justice in Nigeria; Archbishop Doye Teido Agama, founder, Apostolic Pastoral Congress; James Aladiran, founder, Prayer Storm; Henrietta Blyth, CEO, Open Doors UK; the Rev Dr Israel Oluwole Olofinjana, Baptist minister; Ade Omooba, director, Christian Concern; Dr Jonathan Oloyede, convener, National Day of Prayer; the Rev David Shosanya, Paideia Ministries
Justice denied
Sir, One principle of the rule of law is that the decisions of the courts are enforced. David Lammy (news, Dec 2; letters, Dec 3 & 4) should give his attention to the failure of this principle. I am trustee of a small charity that had £5,000 stolen from it. In 2021 the perpetrator was ordered by the crown court as part of his sentence to repay that sum, plus interest, to the charity. Not a penny has been received, despite local knowledge about both the whereabouts of the perpetrator and his means. If the orders of criminal courts are not effectively enforced, that is as corrosive to the rule of law as any delays in bringing cases to trial by jury.
Sir Paul Silk
Crickhowell, Powys
Dormant breeds
Sir, Ian Whitmore inquires as to the emergence of hibernating breeds of dog (letter, Dec 5). They exist already in my household and are called cats.
Callum Beaton
St Martin’s, Guernsey
Kissing your dog
Sir, Marina Fogle says that letting dogs lick your child’s mouth is “healthy” (“In our family we kiss the dogs. It’s healthy”, Times2, Dec 5). I strongly disagree. Toxocara canis — worms in dogs — are common and widespread. The eggs of these worms are expelled in dogs’ faeces and can then be ingested by, for example, puppies to become lavae in their gut before being expelled, thus completing the worms’ life cycle. There are well documented cases in humans with Toxocara lavae in the liver, brain and eye (optic nerve) etc. You should never let a dog’s tongue near your face.
Linda Taylor
Health visitor; Teversham, Cambs
Hybrid injustice
Sir, Drivers of plug-in hybrid vehicles will certainly be unfairly penalised by the proposed legislation (letters, Dec 4 & 5). The maximum electric range of my Mercedes C-Class car is 30 miles on a good day, more often 20 miles in winter. I often drive from East Yorkshire to Devon and Cornwall, and sometimes to the French Alps, usually averaging about 50mpg for the round trip. The proposed tax will therefore unfairly penalise drivers who have been encouraged by the government to invest in more expensive hybrid or electric vehicles; to also levy a charge on mileage abroad is adding insult to injury. If the legislation is enacted I will certainly transfer back to a petrol or diesel vehicle until they are no longer allowed.
John Good
Beverley, E Yorks
Doge-style savings
Sir, I agree with Robert Wright (letter, Dec 2) that senior Whitehall staff are not the right people to find Doge-style savings. One of my jobs as a civil servant was as a staff inspector. The job of staff inspectors was to make regular visits to different areas of each department of state interviewing all the employees, assessing the need for work, whether it could be done more efficiently and the grade level of staff needed to carry it out. The inspectors were not the most senior staff but experienced officers who had been around the department and understood how it worked. We were not popular but that was because we made staff justify their jobs, invariably found cost savings and made cuts to staffing levels and corrections to over-graded jobs. I don’t think this kind of inspection is carried out any more, but perhaps it should be.
Edward Bacon
Harrow
Candid camera
Sir, On the topic of facial recognition cameras (news, Dec 4; letter, Dec 5), ever since my coronary stents set off the security alarm at the entrance to my local Waitrose, my face appears inside a green square on the screen above the shop entrance and on another in one of the aisles. I wear this recognition as a badge of honour and give a cheery wave to the screen at every green-squaring. I’ve been observed with amusement by the staff but never challenged for any perceived larcenous intent. I have been told that another customer with a metallic knee joint takes pleasure in waving his leg around before he does his shopping.
Steve Haynes
Sidmouth, Devon
Write to letters@thetimes.co.uk
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