Science of Brexit

SIR – The article by Angus Dalgleish (“No, of course Brexit won’t damage British science”, August 10) is to be welcomed. Like Professor Dalgleish, I have been the grateful recipient of the occasional grant from the EU.

One of the main reasons scientists support the decision of the people to leave the EU is, I suspect, that dogma is a concept unknown to science. Yet it is the glue that holds the EU together. Dr Charles Pasternak

London SW7

sir – Boris Johnson should focus on France’s Emmanuel Macron, as he will be the key to unlocking the Brexit problem. Angela Merkel retires in the spring and her legacy is the EU, the unification of Germany and the incorporation into it of the eastern states. Giving the UK a free pass to “EU benefits” is not part of her plan.

President Macron, however, is the other main player in the EU and his objectives are different. He has at least three years, possibly 10, to go, and wants to become the bloc’s dominant political figure. The last thing he needs is a belligerent member state with a strong prime minister. He wants Britain well away from the EU. But he also needs to retain us as a close security and economic partner, so will in the end broker a deal that is in his, as well as France’s, best interests.

The backstop is a sideshow. Any cross-border transactions are so small as to be unimportant in the whole EU context. Johnson, Merkel and Macron have one thing in common – a willingness to throw Leo Varadkar under the bus as soon as it suits them. David James

Chaddesley Corbett, Worcestershire