UK on track to become 51st state of America under Boris Johnson

Readers have their say on the prospect of a no-deal Brexit, and a potential trade agreement with Donald Trump.

Francis Beckett's article 'We're being fattened up for a one-way deal with Trump' was depressing enough, but added to Boris Johnson's love for all things American, as quoted in his book Life in the Fast Lane, it becomes extremely alarming.

There is no point in asking Boris to stand up for Britain as he would evidently be happy for the UK to become the 51st state of the union.

A campaign as forceful as that which opposed TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) is needed urgently, and this time the UK won't have partners in Europe to work with. Conversations with friends and letters to local media must give this wide exposure, as well as pressure on one's own MP.

The virus will eventually end but a trade deal with Trump's US will change our politics and society forever. We must resist.

Fiona MacGregor

St Leonards-on-Sea

As someone who grew up around the corner from the Nissan factory, I know just how important it is to the region. With the news that the plant is not sustainable in the event of a no-deal Brexit, it beggars belief that this government is not going to ask for an extension to the transition period.

This increases the risk of a no-deal Brexit and thus Nissan leaving our region, taking 7,000 jobs with it (and thousands more if you include the supply chain). Whichever way you voted in the EU referendum, it was probably not for this scenario. In the middle of a pandemic, it is utter madness.

The north east is currently the area worst affected by Covid-19 and will soon be the worst affected by a no-deal Brexit too. Please let us not revisit our economic disaster of the pit-closure past and extend the transition period to save the region from ruin.

Louise Brown

Gateshead

If it is no-deal with the EU, a rich future beckons for the Nissan plant should they and Renault pull-out. Rumours in the pubs of Peterlee and Durham are that production would then move to the manufacture of the Cumming-GoingMobile.

British-designed, British-made, cornering the market for drivers with challenging eyesight conditions, the CGM will have built-in eye test capacity while on the move, with an option for integrated production of prescription spectacles within the glove compartment.

Rumours that Mr Cummings' April expedition to Durham was a secret trial of the CGM prototype have apparently been denied by 'a source close to the centre of government'.

Chris and Jan Clode

Wrexham

Global Britain leading the world on technology? Investing heavily in AI? Instead we see 400 MPs doing a socially distanced conga around the Palace of Westminster.

I suppose the likes of Rees-Mogg thought this more fun than a pillow fight in the dorm.

Kathy Erasmus

London

• Have your say by emailing theneweuropean@archant.co.uk. Our deadline for letters is Tuesday at 9am for inclusion in Thursday's edition. Please be concise - letters over five paragraphs long may be edited before printing.