The reluctance of EU leaders to discuss Brexit at upcoming Salzburg summit is shameful
The EU leaders are hoping that if they keep Brexit off the agenda, the Prime Minister will concede even more than she already has
Salz and vinegar
THE apparent reluctance of European leaders to even discuss Brexit at the upcoming Salzburg meeting is shameful.
When Liam Fox described the EU and the Continent’s political leaders as “intransigent” at the weekend, they hopped up and down with righteous indignation at the supposed insult.
One European Commission official whined that they were working “24/7” to do a deal with Britain.
Well, unless they play ball before the vital Austrian meeting, our Trade Secretary will be proved dead right.
They’re hoping that if they keep Brexit off the agenda, the Prime Minister will concede even more than she already has, turning her Chequers fudge into a Belgian waffle.
The PM’s response should be short and sweet. Non, nein, nej.
It may be a pain for Border Force staff that planning for a “No Deal” Brexit means they’re not going to be allowed to book holidays next spring but it’s vital.
The Prime Minister should have come up with a concrete plan long ago.
But now she has, if Brussels and EU leaders don’t want to listen, then her only course of action is to step up planning for a clean break.
Drug poison
THE Home Secretary Sajid Javid has plenty on his plate.
But he should start looking at Britain’s drug crisis sooner rather than later. It is clear that our current laws and programmes are not working.
It’s not just that we have more drug deaths per head than other major European countries.
All you need to do to know that there is something seriously wrong is walk around parts of our city centres or our coastal towns and see addicts — each one a son or daughter, a brother or sister — slipping towards an early grave.
The answer may well be tougher sentences for pushers — but treatment, rather than prosecution, for chronic users. And we definitely need an answer to the “county lines” drug trade.
Regardless, the deaths and the drug-related gang violence must end.
Without change we are sleepwalking towards catastrophe.
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Upside frown
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But The Sun likes to look on the bright side of life, so let’s not forget there are still weeks left of the summer holidays. The footie season is up and running.
And while it’s going to hammer it down this week, we’re assured the heatwave will be back by mid-August.
Until then, there’s still plenty of fun in The Sun with your favourite newspaper.