Owen Jones is right that, while Labour’s decision to clearly support staying in the European single market after Brexit is correct, there are still some issues to be resolved for many Labour supporters (Opinion, 31 August). What he doesn’t mention is the extent to which Labour MPs who represent the “left behind” northern constituencies are the victims of the fake discourse which surrounds the Brexit debate. Hardline Brexiters, led by Liam Fox, are generally characterised by remainers as little Englanders seeking to withdraw from international cooperation, the EU market and the influx of foreign workers. This is the opposite of the truth.

The Brexiters are in fact extreme rightwing ideologues committed to exposing the UK to the full rigours of the market and global capitalist forces. They see this as a way of escaping EU-supported laws on labour and social rights and the regulation of business and finance, leaving the UK government free to pursue the privatisation of our economy, welfare and public services. If they get their way, we shall see the disappearance of the last remnants of our manufacturing industry and the final takeover of our service industries by foreign corporations. They are even prepared to see the destruction of our farming sector through exposure to global competition and the end of subsidies. If the UK becomes an offshore tax haven, the biggest losers will be the populations of those same northern Labour constituencies.

Richard Crook

Brighton

• Frances O’Grady claims the EU is strong on workers’ rights. So strong, in fact, that France’s Emmanuel Macron eyes our “flexible” labour laws (Opinion, 4 September). Stay dependent on an uncontrolled supply of unskilled migrants from an ever-expanding EU and you can rule out a living wage. It’s time Labour MPs and trade unionists distanced themselves from the globalists.

Yugo Kovach

Winterborne Houghton, Dorset

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