Corbyn’s failure

What should we make of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s statement about the UK and a customs union postbrexit (your report, 27 February)? Last Thursday evening on BBC1’S Question Time, the chief executive of Siemens, Jurgen Maier, simplified for many the current hiatus over departure from the European Union.

He regretted that it was happening at all, but the challenge now was to gain as favourable access to European markets as possible. This is someone who was born in these islands but now has the responsibility of managing one of Germany’s major manufacturing concerns, a man well aware of political realities and the need for business acumen in international trade.

The EU is foremost a customs union, that is to say it erects around its existing 28 member states a common external tariff barrier. A country cannot be outside the institution and remain a member of the customs union. It can of course seek the most favourable terms of access to it. That is presumably the thrust of the negotiating stance which Theresa May is to announce on Friday.

Notwithstanding the serious differences of approach within her own Cabinet, that stance has a logical coherence. It is likely to have some economic costs - most arrangements that infringe free trade do. But it will have to be balanced against the money saved by the UK no longer having to contribute to the EU budget.

By the time of the next scheduled general election in 2022, Britain will have left the EU and the transition period will be over. Mr Corbyn and his party are likely to look foolish if they simply argue for a return of the trading system which was rejected, albeit by a close margin, in a referendum that attracted a high turnout. His supporters want clarity and he has failed to give it.

BOB TAYLOR Shiel Court, Glenrothes With his usual confused thinking, Jeremy Corbyn will not follow the EU’S four freedoms – including the free movement of people – wants a range of opt-outs and exemptions on single market rules but hopes for full access to a customs union without having any influence on trade policies.

This begs the question: if the UK can leave the EU while preserving all the good things, then why can’t Scotland just leave the UK or, having voted for it, remain in the EU with a similar type of bespoke deal? It is ironic that at a time when they want to take back control from Europe the Tories expect Scotland and Wales to give up many of their existing powers.

Tory Cabinet Minister David Lidington’s power grab has strengthened the case for independence by saying the UK Government will retain a veto over the 25 devolved powers he wants Westminster to acquire, thus undermining the devolution settlements that Scotland and Wales voted for. Also, the Scottish Government won’t have a say in any proposed Tory-trump trade deal or on a post-brexit food packaging regime in which any sensible Scottish Government would have much stricter regulations than currently exist.

Given the much greater importance of agriculture and fishing industries to Scotland, Brexit Minister Mike Russell needs to be more forceful over the threat of deregulated food standards, and to give shoppers more clarity on healthy eating and on eliminating unnecessary food miles by clearly labelling Scottish produce.

MARY THOMAS Watson Crescent, Edinburgh It’s one thing for Jeremy Corbyn to advocate a UK-EU customs union but it’s pie in the sky to suggest that the UK could have a say in any new trade pacts negotiated by the EU with other third party countries. The EU already has enough difficulty getting all of its member states to agree on trade matters. The brutal truth is that a UK-EU customs union means the UK would have to not just accept EU trade policy but also have no say in its formation.

YUGO KOVACH Winterborne Houghton, Dorset The truly frightening facet of our contemporary political estate is that its two greatest eccentricities from a bygone age– jeremy corby na nd jacob Rees-mogg – are the only two left who appear to talk any common sense and moreover act like mature adults.

MARK BOYLE Linn Park Gardens Johnstone, Renfrewshire