SO the “new era” of Brexit is upon us. There is still time for our Government to secure a sensible EU trade deal, but I fear that instead we will be subjected to the hardship, and inevitable disappointments of a “no-deal” Brexit.

Moreover, I suspect that history will judge the so-called “Second Elizabethan Age” to be the time before Brexit, when we were members of the EU, rather than the shambles which is all too likely to follow it.

I’m afraid I have no confidence whatsoever in our country’s future, and look forward to 2020 with dread.

Alan Jordan, Middridge.