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In your December edition Gerard Barron raised the spectre of currency exchange controls if a hard left government was in power in the UK.

I doubt exchange controls could be implemented in today’s environment. For example, P2P exchange methods, where, essentially, I pay Fred Bloggs in sterling, and his euroland supplier pays me the equivalent in euros – so, no currency leaves the country, it is merely exchanged between users in each country.

It would take some draconian regulatory steps to close down such avenues.

When Thatcher lifted currency controls, the then-relatively recent payment by bank card was driving a coach and horses through the rules.

The situation is many times more complex today.

Chris Hibbert, Rennes