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A Victorian die cut angel produced for Christmas around 1880 in Germany.
A Victorian die cut angel produced for Christmas around 1880 in Germany. Jim Murray advises UK negotiators that they will be ‘dealing with people who are not unfriendly, but who do not believe Britain rose from the sea to the sound of angels singing’. Photograph: Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images
A Victorian die cut angel produced for Christmas around 1880 in Germany. Jim Murray advises UK negotiators that they will be ‘dealing with people who are not unfriendly, but who do not believe Britain rose from the sea to the sound of angels singing’. Photograph: Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images

Memo to UK negotiators: angels won’t be singing in Brussels

This article is more than 7 years old
EU austerity | Advice to UK negotiators | Referendum result | Let’s get on with it | Replace May | Ukip and the Tories | Meaning of Brexit

Good grief – a pro-Brexit article in the Guardian (Wake up liberals, 18 January). It is frankly embarrassing that the Guardian and apparently nine out of 10 of its readers still support a neoliberal institution whose policies of austerity, privatisation, “flexicurity” in the job market and the poaching of skilled workers have brought such misery, especially to southern Europe. Just how is it that social liberals condemn the EU for its appalling actions there, yet feel the EU is so great for us? The task for all of us now is to make it a People’s Brexit, in which, as Giles Fraser says, “all are welcome and none are left behind”.
Sarah Ansell
Northampton

May I offer this advice to the UK negotiators? Remember you will be dealing with people who are not unfriendly, but who do not believe Britain rose from the sea to the sound of angels singing.
Jim Murray
Brussels

Theresa May says she does not want a Brexit deal that leaves Britain “half in, half out”. But surely that was the result of the referendum?
Bob Ward
Leeds

Mrs May is to be congratulated. A clean break is the best thing for everyone. Leaving the EU means leaving the single market. Let’s get on with it.
Chris Hughes
Leicester

If there is a majority in the Commons to stay in the EU, MPs should remove Theresa May as prime minister with a vote of no confidence and replace her with someone who will form a coalition government that will keep us in the EU.
David Almond
Buckhurst Hill, Essex

“The creatures outside looked from Tory to Ukip, and from Ukip to Tory, and from Tory to Ukip again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” (With apologies to George Orwell).
David Marsh
Newbury, Berkshire

So now we know: Brexit means Brexit.
Alfe Ninbörn
Stockholm

Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

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