Davidson must act to protect Scotland from UK Tories’ obsession with free trade
Andrew Vass (Letters, 29 July) is quite correct in saying that Brexit is a situation of the Tories’ making. Ruth Davidson is said to be a shining star in Tory HQ, it is about time that she and her dozen Scottish Conservative MPS did the job they were elected to do. Act in the best interests of their constituents, and in particular, prevent a Brexit which makes Scots poorer and so gives Nicola Sturgeon a pretext for indyref2.
The Tory party are in complete disarray. Instead of fighting for the best deal, they are pursuing a right wing obsession with free trade at any cost. They are so gung ho that they appear to have no qualms about downgrading food safety laws, when no longer protected by European regulations, allowing the Americans to send us their chlorine-washed chickens and hormone-treated beef. As most of our vets in meat hygiene are from the EU, and so may well leave, once again it will be the poor who will pay, in their health, the price of the Tory obsession with free trade. The Scotch whisky industry could also end up crippled if the Tories put free trade above all else and allow American whisky, which has a shorter distillation period, to be sold here as “whisky”.
The Tories have also shown, in their announcement of the cancellation of a number of rail electrification projects in the North of England on the same day as announcing another cross-london rail project, that a replacement for the EU development funds which currently come to Scotland is most unlikely.
It really is time that the Conservative Government set out what it wants, and what it doesn’t want, and tried to make a deal with Europe to try to retain most, if not all, of the advantages of the single market and the customs union. How do we know how flexible Europe is unless we ask? As it is, we hear that freedom of movement may be important, or may not be, bearing in mind much of the UK’S immigration does not come from the EU anyway. There may be a transitional period, or may not be. Joining the EEA or EFTA may be unacceptable to some in the Tory party, as we would still have to abide by EU rules and would have to pay into the EU’S coffers, or may not be, who knows? It’s time for Ruth Davidson and her team to do something positive. They hold a whip hand, given theresa May no longer has a majority–it is time they used it.
PHIL TATE Craiglockhart Road, Edinburgh So, international trade secretary Liam Fox wants to “keep our UK Borders secure”. A fine turn of phrase when it comes to Brexit and whether we should allow immigration from Europe once we are out and once more a sovereign nation. But, wait a sec. . . isn’t this the same Liam Fox who strutted up and down the Tarmac at RAF Kinloss the day the Tories came to power at Westminster and was responsible single-handedly for cutting up a whole squadron of brand new Nimrod reconnaissance planes, just delivered to upgrade our maritime fleet, which were supposed to keep our borders intact?
The cost – was it £40 million or £4 billion? – was described by a commentator last week as “an act of reckless bravado” and has seen us, over the last 17 years, having to rely on the French Air Force and the Americans to protect our skies from a growing and menacing Russian presence in our territorial waters and the skies above them. Now we are buying an inferior product from Trump’s USA which will need to be equipped with surveillanceequipment which comes up to our own standards and we should all be asking once again “how much”?
When does “reckless bravado” become a treasonable offence? One has to ask what this man is doing in the government at all.