Spanish violence

SIR – Is the brutality of Spanish police, in their attempt to stop Catalans voting peacefully, part of Spain’s strategy to convince Gibraltarians about the delights of democracy Spanish-style? Dominic Keown

Cambridge

SIR – There is continuing propaganda from the EU against Brexit. In the Canadian Globe and Mail on Saturday, I read a diatribe against the Catalan independence referendum by Ramón Luis Valcárcel, a vice president of the European Parliament.

He compared the referendum in Catalonia to Brexit: “Those responsible for this coup against democracy prefer to ignore reality, preaching a form of populism akin to Brexit.”

For Mr Valcárcel, as for Jean-claude Juncker and Guy Verhofstadt, the only reality can be theirs. It indicates what we face in hoping that reason will prevail in the negotiations over Brexit. Richard Hayes

Banstead, Surrey

SIR – If we needed a clear motive for rapid departure from the EU, the action of the Spanish police in Catalonia is more than enough.

Could you imagine these scenes on the streets of Scotland? Michael Wynn

Prenton, Wirral