• WE are now bitterly disappointed in the democratic position of Sir Keir Starmer who has failed to fulfil his promise of standing up against HS2 and the destruction, for instance, of the trees in Euston Square.

We can no longer trust him to be objective about Brexit because he has fallen into that trap, that affects most politicians, of jostling for position rather than using their intelligence and doing what they know is right.

That is why have cut up our Labour Party cards which we were so proud of three years ago.

Only this week an English farmer has announced he is going to grow fruit in China because of the uncertainties of Brexit. To my previous list (Brexit talks shows the lack of democracy, February 8) five more major impacts of Brexit should be added.

• The effect on agriculture: At Haygrove farm in Ledbury, Angus Davison, one of the biggest growers of berries in the UK has just written to Theresa May, saying, “Unless a seasonal workers scheme is put in place, you must expect to see the steep decline of this significant rural employer and source of food”.

• Apprenticeships: Germany is far more aware of giving young people hope and a purpose in life through these schemes. Siemens are giving apprenticeships to young people to make turbines and blades for the massive wind farm in the North Sea off Hull.

These apprentices are not plunged into miserable and frightful debt but are paid bursaries. Are we to provide apprenticeships for carpentry, gardening, and plumbing, for example, or will all these schemes go by the board?

• Training of nurses: As someone who has had his life saved, on more than one occasion, by the Royal Free Hospital, I became aware of the appalling treatment of our nurses compared with Portuguese nurses who receive bursaries for training.

This compares with the noxious idea of our government to charge our nurses for their training, which will introduce slavery because nurses’ training inevitably involves learning how to make beds, how to tuck in the sheets, how to test blood pressure and carry out injections without killing the patient.

In contrast Portuguese nurses are given flats to live in by the hospital and not expected to travel an hour to and from work because there is no nearby accommodation provided.

• Sharing modern rail technologies: The Deutsche Bahn high speed computerised trains are about to be introduced to our East Coast lines which will revolutionise train times and commuter costs. Will we lose this revolution in transport because of Brexit?

• Interoperability of railways: Will our rail network seamlessly link to European railways in France and Belgium or be a shambles, like the 15-minute time gap between Euston HS2 and St Pancras Eurostar?

This list of adverse impacts should go on and be honestly stated, not by politicians who have proved dishonest, or downright stupid, but by Whitehall.

To be scrupulous, positive impacts of Brexit (if there are any) should also be listed. Only then can we decide if Brexit will be a disaster or a triumph of statesmanship.

NICHOLAS AND SARA WOOD
NW3