The fast track to Europe

Luke McGee (“Sorry, Rejoiners—the UK’s path back to Europe will be slow”, Prospect online, October) makes good points, but doesn’t examine the alternative. Two factors will encourage the government to go faster. First, its objectives depend on economic growth. We have just had weeks of agony over the budget raising an extra £2bn here or £4bn there—tiny figures compared to the £40bn annual loss of tax revenue attributed to Brexit, the lost trade with our main export market, and the extra costs on businesses. The second is public opinion. Tracker polls show a relentless rise in Brexit regret, driven by demographic factors and by those who voted Leave on the basis of what turned out to be false promises. When the figures climb above 60 per cent, the government will surely feel it can be more ambitious.

What can be done? The single market is simply a set of rules—the more you align, the greater the access, and Britain is still aligned with most of them. On the vexed issue of freedom of movement, most of our immigration is from outside the EU and so a matter for national regulation. Freedom of movement is itself not an unconditional right: those exercising it have to find work or be self-sufficient. Brexit has also not benefitted the EU and a British return would be a feather in its cap: they are not “sick of the sight of us”, as McGee claims, but of Brexit politicians. They would simply need reassurance against a second Brexit following a change of government, which brings us back to the debate in Britain. That is where the key to this question resides, not with procedural hoops in Brussels.

Richard Corbett, former MEP and Labour party leader in the European parliament

Post-Trump democracy

I agree with Francis Fukuyama’s assessment (“Donald the demagogue”, December) of the frightening condition of American democracy and, indeed, democracies around the world. For the last 30 to 50 years, they have been imperilled by a decrepit pro-market, anti-government ideology which has facilitated vast inequalities of wealth and opportunity.