Effects of Brexit are already felt

I must write in response to Lee Griffin’s letter in your issue of the 3/11/2017. His comments clearly show how little knowledge he has on the true situation this town will face in the coming years.

Let us start with the NHS, the nursing bodies have informed us there has been a 90 per cent drop between 2016 and 2017 in the number of overseas nurses working in the NHS. The effect is already felt at the Conquest Hospital where consultants are of the opinion that the experience of the overseas nurses who have already left can not be replaced by inexperienced newly-qualified home nurses, which will obviously lead to a decline in the professional care offered to local patients.

Substantial numbers of overseas workers have already left the UK due to the failure of our Government to address their concerns and give them some reassurance.

Does Lee Griffin seriously think that experienced doctors, nurses, engineers and teachers can be replaced by home people off the dole queues and college leavers, without any serious effect on society? What about poultry and fruit farmers, etc, who rely on overseas seasonal workers and say local people simply won’t do the work , so they will have to give up their businesses?

Tariffs will make imports and exports more expensive, food prices for all the local people will rise. Overseas employers will move their business abroad. A Bank of England official has confirmed that he believes that the UK will lose 75,000 financial services jobs, and I expect some of these will be Hastings residents who travel up to work in the city of London, which will have a knock-on effect on the local economy.

Even David Davis the Brexit Secretary has now admitted that the UK will suffer in the short term, whatever that means. Hey, but don’t worry because looking through Lee Griffin’s rose-tinted specs, all will be well in the end.