Brexit means Brexit – but what about my business?

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Brexit means Brexit. It is like falling from a cliff 50 meters high, head down and wondering what will happen.

I am a foreigner who came to Britain in 1968. I was educated in this country and started a family business in the food industry with my brothers, which is currently doing very well. About 20 per cent of our turnover is exports to the EU and a similar percentage is raw materials from the EU. We employ 70 people (factory workers, drivers, salespeople, administration and so on) and foreign workers comprise 90 per cent of the workforce. We simply cannot attract English people because they do not like this type of work. For example, we advertised for the position of assistant accountant recently, and received 50 applications – 49 were from Asians or other Europeans, and one was from an English person.

Now please tell me: what are we, as a small company, going to do after the UK leaves the EU? Never mind the problems that will be encountered by big organisations employing thousands of people where much of their business is in Europe – and never mind the City of London facing the loss of about half of its financial services business – what about us?

In my view, as a European who came to this country, worked hard, achieved and always felt at home, Britain will is now being driven by a small group of politicians who can’t see further than the nose on their face. They played with people’s feelings with their arguments about immigration, and they won.

Brexit means a poorer Britain, an isolated Britain, and in the long run a fall in our standards of living.

George Paphitis

Birmingham

It is surreal that in the 21st century the Prime Minister is considering the personal use of the royal prerogative to trigger Article 50 (Tory peer accuses May of misusing royal prerogative, The Independent, 4 October). It is wholly undemocratic, out of date and devious for Ms May to do this in relation to a momentous decision. As Baroness Wheatcroft says: “Parliament took us into the EU and…[the question of leaving] is surely something for the sovereignty of Parliament to have a say in and not for the Prime Minister alone.”

David Ashton

Shipbourne, Kent

Hunting for good doctors

If Jeremy Hunt recruits doctors from other countries, will he recompense the countries that trained them?

Ian Turnbull

Carlisle, Cumbria

Mr Hunt should take a leaf out of the most effective and successful business rule book: “Train staff so they can leave, treat them so they’ll never want to.”

Mark Grey

Covent Garden, London

Refugee crisis threatens stability in the Middle East

Mary Dejevsky (4 October) is right that Europe is turning its back on refugee quotas despite some claiming the moral high ground in the refugee crisis. A recent report by Amnesty International on the unconscionable suffering endured by refugees and migrants taking treacherous roads to reach the European mainland unequivocally stated that countries immediately neighbouring conflict zones, such as Jordan, are shouldering the heavy burden of the refugee crisis while wealthy nations shirk responsibility.

Jordan is now the first largest host of refugees per capita worldwide. And while Jordan has managed to remain a microcosm of social harmony and religious coexistence in the region until now, this could soon change and it might head towards a political, fiscal, economic and social maelstrom unless its needs are addressed in a timely manner.

It is high time we forged a new sustainable and resilient approach to this crisis, and translate the UN’s Millennium Development Goals into practical realities on the ground.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob

London NW2

Cash isn't dead yet

Ben Chu (4 October) is obviously not of my generation. I regularly go out with friends for lunch followed by a matinee. We pay for ourselves and cash is the only satisfactory means of payment when the bill arrives.

He may well mock my age group, but I am not alone in thinking that much of the personal debt blighting young lives today would be reduced if payments were in cash and an empty wallet signified the money was gone!

The only time I have been in debt was when I had a mortgage and I have never been overdrawn. Mock if you like, but I have been spared many worries.

Merrill Johns

Dover

May's commitment to tackling injustice must know no bounds

When Prime Minister Theresa May was asked by a journalist on the radio, "What makes you angry?" she replied, "Injustice... when we see the powerful abusing their power, that's what makes me angry.”

Her answer will give hope to the Orgreave Truth and Justice campaigners that the Home Secretary will soon announce a public inquiry into alleged wrongdoing by the powerful during the 1984 miners’ strike.

Geoff Naylor

Winchester, Hampshire