DAVE Christian (December 30) considers the FTSE’s record high to be a triumph of voting to leave the EU, and indicator of a prosperous 2017. 

This contradicts the general view of financial experts that the high is being driven by the 15% drop in the value of the pound against the dollar since the vote. 

A low pound tends to benefit the many multi-national companies whose shares are traded in the UK.

However, a survey by Credit Suisse found that the fall has reduced UK household wealth by 1.2 trillion dollars. 

Oxfam notes from the survey that the wealthiest are holding their own while those on lower incomes are struggling.

This appears perfectly logical, because many better-off people will be compensated for the reduced value of the pound by the increased value of their shares, whilst poorer families won’t.

The government’s pre-referendum brochure, which Mr Christian dislikes, aptly warned that the economic shock of voting to leave the EU ‘would put pressure on the value of the pound, which would risk higher prices of some household goods and damage living standards’.

Blaming the EU for everything won’t tackle the injustices of modern Britain, such as payday loans, reliance on food banks, zero hours contracts, homelessness, people driven to suicide, and the abuse of migrant workers. 

Finally, Mr Christian probably needn’t concern himself about investment in faster railways.

Plans to electrify lines between Southampton Docks and the Midlands are now uncertain, and are already abandoned between Oxford and Bletchley.

Denis Fryer, Calmore.