Quantum Brexit

When the Brexiteers put forward their “manifesto” for leaving Europe, did they think about the status of politics on the island of Ireland? Did it cross their minds that, for the next few weeks, the Republic of Ireland would hold so much power over the progress of Brexit negotiations?

Of course not, because, historically, other nations did whatever the British Empire told them to do, under pain of military intervention/conquest/subjugation.

So it is with a delicious sense of schadenfreude that I see the DUP’S Arlene Foster stuck in a state of “Schrodinger’s Brexit”, because, like the life-or-death status of the unfortunate cat, her current multi-faceted position on the border for the EU customs union has to flip into a single identifiable state when put under scrutiny.

However, as the leader of a party whose recent campaign slogan was “It’s right to say no”, Mrs Foster says: ‘no’ to a hard border across the island of Ireland; ‘no’ to a hard border between the island of Ireland and the island of Britain; and finally, ‘no’ to any other “special status” for Northern Ireland, so as to maintain trade links.

Could Mrs Foster enlighten us by outlining any proposal to which she would say yes? DAVID PATRICK Thirlestane Road Marchmont, Edinburgh

As the UK Government has now agreed to pay substantially more to the EU in the hope of getting trade talks started (your report, 29 November), I trust the CBI and similar bodies which have been agitating for this will now impose a levy on members to foot the bill.

S BECK Craiigleith Drive, Edinburgh

Whatever the actual wording of Article 50 may matter not one iota. There are several points at issue here, any one of which will result in no agreement being achieved in our Brexit negotiations.

The first is the quite absurd insistence by the 27 on the UK agreeing to a punitive financial settlement which will never be enough to satisfy them all. The unstable political situations of the Irish Republic and Germany in particular add to the uncertainty.

The second issue is the desire of the Irish Republic to use Brexit as a ready excuse to demand what is effective integration of Northern Ireland into the Republic, regardless of the wishes of a majority of the people in the north. This will not happen any more than the Republic returning to the fold as part of the UK.

The third element in this sad business is Spain’s wish to break Gibraltar away from the UK. The Gibraltarian population is well aware of how Spain deals with any perceived threat to itself with violence, as seen so recently in Catalonia. That would discourage any likelihood of a pro-eu attitude inclining the territory towards joining Spain.

The consequence of all of this is that we will not reach an agreement with the EU and we had better get used to the idea sooner rather than later.

ANDREW HN GRAY Craiglea Drive, Edinburgh