I’VE, so far, avoided any involvement in the Brexit disputes, I prefer facts rather than politics, but the claims about medicine shortages are pure fantasy.

Twenty years ago, I was heavily involved in rebutting the panics over the year 2000 computer changeover and I see that a lot of the no-deal Brexit talk is exactly the same and contains the same fallacies.

The big pharmaceutical companies seem to buy a lot of their stocks in continental Europe, probably based on price and convenience. I refuse to believe that USA companies, for example, don’t have the same or equivalent materials for their own local pharmacies and patients (NHS approval is unlikely to be an impediment)

Most of the big suppliers are international companies and self-interest will ensure that they keep supplies flowing.

If trade with the EU is disrupted then they will fly them in from other approved sources as they do at present if a factory hits problems.

It’s common for cross-channel trade to be disrupted by French strikes yet pharmacies don’t run out of the essentials, there are other sources. When big business is at risk of losing sales, and hence money, they make a lot of fuss, but in the background they are prepared for the worst. It’s called contingency planning and is business-as-usual for any competent manager.

I think that we’ll hear a lot of shouting, but the important stuff will still happen. You’ll have noticed that the lights stayed on at the millennium, it’s called planning!

Anthony J Foster, Peterlee