BREXIT is done, or so we thought, but in an extraordinary turn of events, we are now seeing Britain voluntarily preparing to break international law against the very Brexit Withdrawal Agreement that we entered into with the EU only a few months ago.

Worse still for us locally, the Chipping Barnet MP, Theresa Villiers, was on Radio 4 on Monday justifying it on the basis that the UK and the EU had, on occasion, resisted rulings made by international bodies in the past and that these were arguably also breaches of international law.

Whether or not they are breaches of international law it is hardly an argument in her favour to say that because we broke the law in the past, we are justified in doing so now. I am afraid that two wrongs to not make a right, and in the current case this is in relation to an agreement that we voluntarily entered into with full knowledge of the consequences.

We are discovering that what we were told was an 'oven-ready' Brexit Withdrawal Agreement did not have the right ingredients after all. Instead, it promises to leave a rather nasty taste in the mouth for some considerable time to come.

Martin Earl

Simmons Close, London