I REFER to the letters from Messrs Keenan, Sumner, Oram and Mercer regarding Brexit (various letters, November 9 — 23).

The UK economy is not doing so well is it Paddy Keenan? Because of Brexit it is now the slowest in the G7 and has lost some £40 billion. Unemployment is low in the UK, partly due to an aging population. Industry and public services, especially the NHS struggle to recruit, a situation now made worse by Brexit. Who wants to come to UK now to nurse and pick cabbages? Oh yes, cabbages. Brian Mercer claims that there are 26,911 words in EU regulations on the sale of cabbages. Then Peter Sumner claims that the EU's accounts have not been signed off for 20 years. In response check out https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35962999 (‘The Great Cabbage Myth’) and BBC Reality Check on https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36276175 (‘The Court of Auditors has signed the EU accounts every year since 2007, while pointing out that EU countries, once they receive the EU funds, misuse about 4.4% of the total budget’).

It is the type of nonsense claimed above that has got the UK to where it is now. The Brexiters said that the UK would "take back control" upon leaving the EU. But after 29 months of shambolic negotiations Theresa May deal gives the UK less control. The UK must continue to follow EU rules, but upon leaving will no longer have a say in them. I still say we should have stayed in, and when I see Dominic (“I didn't know Dover was so important”) Raab and other Brexiters saying the same thing then things must be really bad.

EU President Jean Claude Juncker is very pleased with the deal. The negotiations and now Theresa May’s climbdowns on Gibraltar are a hard lesson that the UK is no longer the power that it was. The rest of the world looks on aghast on how diminished the UK now is. If Peter Sumner is so concerned about treachery, then surely the likes of Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson should be in handcuffs by now for this.

An alternative favoured by the above gentlemen is leaving the EU with no deal, but when food and medicines are being stockpiled and the army is being prepared for this, I think the debate on whether no-deal is a bad thing is finally over. I say again the prospect of Theresa May’s deal and a no-deal getting through parliament is currently very slim. The only way out is that we have another referendum or we stop Brexit completely.

Finally, Stanley Oram blames Remainers for where Brexit is. You and your UKIP friends wanted Brexit for years. This is your mess — you own it.

Paul Goddard, St Anns Close, Andover.