Sir, –The UK insists on restricting immigration from Europe, and the EU insists on free movement of labour. Following through on Brexit to nominally achieve immigration limits looks like damaging the UK economy, as well the economy of the UK’s closest neighbour, Ireland, and, possibly, the EU as a whole.
The EU’s insisting on free movement of labour looks like encouraging nationalist political parties in France, the Netherlands and other EU countries and may do further damage to European co-operation. And all this at a time when European countries need to be making a strong and united stand in the face of threats from Russia and flaky support from the US.
What about keeping the principle of free movement of labour, but allowing each EU country to put a cap on how many immigrants it takes in any one year? The cap would be optional and set at, say, 0.1 per cent of the country’s population. If this could be agreed it might be enough to justify a second referendum in the UK on Brexit and limit the appeal of the likes of Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders. The results might well be that the UK stays in the EU and the political parties that support the EU would gain ground in the elections due across Europe in the next two years. – Yours, etc,
MARTYN TODD,
Lisburn,
Co Antrim.