Fractured May should reassess priorities for as long as she can cling to power
What is the real legacy of prime minister Theresa May one year after she voiced such sympathetic words in Downing St after her appointment by the Queen? Ayesha Zakaria was right to describe her as desperate and weak following her recent overtures to other parties(perspective, 12 July).
But this was really to understate the sheer scale of her selfinflicted misfortune in the last 12 months. This is the leader who frequently reminded the nation that there was no need for a general election after she had replaced David Cameron as Conservative leader and then reneged on that commitment.
This is the leader who brazenly tried to deny the elected parliament the right to authorise the trigger of Article 50 to start the process of withdrawal from the European Union.
This is the leader who sought the poll in June because she was concerned that parliamentary manoeuvring in both the Commons and the Lords would thwart effective negotiations with the EU and not give her the deal so favoured by the most resolute of her backbenchers. She was then forced into an agreement with the Democratic Unionist party to ensure that she had a semblance of a majority at all. In the way of discredited leaders throughout the ages she blamed her senior advisers for the election debacle.
It is a legacy of misplaced loyalty, poor judgement and lack of vision. It should now be clear that the United Kingdom as a whole does not seek a job destroying, living standard losing, isolationist hard Brexit. It wants something that shows respect for our European neighbours.
It wants something that will recognise our financial commitments to the EU as we withdraw and yet maintains an arrangement that will ensure something close to tariff-free trade and allows a limited degree of control of who enters the country.
I doubt if many are concerned if that means continuing to accept in some way the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. They are concerned more about security and peace on the continent. Those should be the priorities of our fractured prime minister for as long as she is able to cling on to office.
BOB TAYLOR Shiel Court, Glenrothes