On Wednesday HM Government served a notice that puts this country in a position similar to that of a tenant who has given a notice to quit without having another home to go to, or an employee who quits without having another job to go to. It hands virtually all the cards to the other party.
Ironically perhaps, the only people on the Leave side who seem prepared to deal with the implications of this are those who are so viscerally affronted by everything they think the EU stands for that they are happy to contemplate a situation in which from 30 March 2019 all trade conducted by this country with members of the EU will be undertaken under WTO rules.
In the long run, probably after several decades, the position will change, because it is the younger generations who voted heavily to remain who will gradually assume power. No one should ever forget that what is happening is driven largely by those over 35, and especially over 65. At some point that pigeon will come home to roost.
Philip Morgan Llanelli
I have been away for a while but I readily spotted your many April Fool references to a President Trump. You really will have to be more subtle in future to fool The Indyssharp-eyed readership.
Brian Mitchell Cambridge
Thats it, Article 50 has been triggered and the European Union given official notice of the UKs intention to leave by the 29March 2019.
Or is it, when such an intention can be withdrawn at any time during the coming two years of negotiations, during which unbiased light will be shed on all the discussions we should have had, but didnt, before the referendum took place?
And if folk find that they have been kept in the dark over the properissue theyll have every right to feel awfully aggrieved over having been sold something way too dodgy by far.
Article 50 is not so much triggered as heaven help us Rodneyed or Del Boyed!
John Haran Essex
What an institution the EU is.
At last the people are seeing what we are affiliated to, bullying dictators hell bent on punishing the UK for their democratic rights to leave.
We entered into the common market to trade freely and fairly but slowly and stealthilywe have been drawn into their clutches. We liberated Europe in two world wars do they forget our sacrifices and the price we paid for their freedom?Now they are demanding we pay them billions for the pleasure of being a member of their gang.
We once had a proud nation:we fought wars throughout the world in the name of justice and freedom;we endured two world wars without asking Europe for a penny; and we survived. We don'need Europe now, or Scotland for that matter.
Theresa May now needs all the support she can muster from all parties within Parliament, excluding the rebellious SNP of course, who are hell bent on destroying the British.
I have nothing but admiration for Theresa May.I hope she finds the strength and will to see this through. Better days will come once were out of this cauldron of mayhem.
Its going to be harder than getting out of an online book club and thats saying something.
David Mitchinson Address supplied
James Moore is right to be alarmed at the recruitment challenges facing the hospitality industry post-Brexit(Brexit to cause 60,000 hospitality recruitment shortage, industry warns, 31 March), but this issue is long-standing and rooted in the poor public image and profound misconceptions of the sector.
Government has a role, but all of us in the industry, including the BHA, need to raise our game and show young people and their families the wealth of exciting and rewarding careersthatexist in hospitality and tourism.
As Principal of a hotel school, I see the brightest and the best graduates move into prestigious jobs within global brands as well as the best UK independents, but this industry offers opportunities for development and progression at all levels as well as future job security.We are told that in our digital age, many professions will become automated in the near future, but hospitality requires initiative, creativity and a flair for communication skills which a robot can never replicate.
Andrew Boer Principal, the Edge Hotel School Colchester
Both Labour and UKIP are having their own issues, but, in fairness, we have suffered for a long time the slings and arrows of the press in the overblown obituary writing of the death of UKIP. The party has some great policies and people. Sadly, they are not currently being shown in the best of light; and the departure of Douglas Carswell is a point in question.
When asked about the death of UKIP I and others answer it this way; we are not a protest party, we represented at the last GE over four million people in this country and it is only the antiquated first past the post system that stops ourselves and the Greens from being a force for change. We also are not a single issue party and should not be painted in that manner, as only being about leaving the EU.
We are a party in our own right with great policy ideas and should be seen in that way.
However, sadly, some are bathing in the reflected glory of a referendum result, great though that was, I am not one of them and wish to speak for those who voted for us then, now and in the future.
So, to close, the death of UKIP is much exaggerated as will be seen.
Chris Gallacher Chairman, Ukip Redcar
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In years to come the UK will regret leaving the European Union - The Independent