Tough with trade

So, the chief civil servant to Liam Fox has assured us we may lose trade treaties with 40 countries the day we finally leave the EU. His view is that we can expect these countries to haggle on new terms if we seek to renew the abandoned treaties. The government’s propaganda spokesmen insist that these counties are queuing up enthusiastically to recommit to the same deals.

However, this ignores the reputation of the EU as the toughest negotiator in WTO. Countries dealing with the EU had to settle for what they could get. Even Donald Trump (that American exponent of Neo-liberalism minus the free trade religiosity) is now toning down his enthusiasm for erecting tariffs to support US steel in the face of EU threats.

The Brexiteers want to convince everyone that we will get good deals and won’t settle for anything less. But the mood abroad is a “Donald Trump one” and these nations we want seamless trade with are 40 against one. Don’t think they don’t know we are getting into a mess in which new trade routes will become vital.

ANDREW VASS

Corbiehill Place, Edinburgh

When Labour in Scotland blocks a motion to remain in the EU single market it is further evidence that their position on Brexit is as shambolic as the Tories’.

Brexit will hit Edinburgh more than London yet the Tories rubbished the Scottish government’s analysis of the damage Brexit will do to our economy and the UK Government’s own assessment showed a hard Brexit would hit Scotland’s economic growth by 9 per cent.

The Tories’ Westminster power grab of devolved powers forgets that everything not specifically reserved to Westminster, originally under Section 5 of the 1998 Scotland Act, is automatically devolved to Holyrood.

There would be no need for the Scottish Government’s Continuity Bill if the UK Government hadn’t rammed through the UK Withdrawal Bill in the House of Commons in three days without producing or accepting a single amendment to protect any of the existing Holyrood powers. The Presiding Officer in Wales deemed their similar Continuity Bill was competent and the Welsh Tories even supported the Bill, displaying more backbone than their Scottish counterparts.

The EU is not perfect but the EU stopped overfishing, supported our farmers well beyond anything the UK Government provided, greatly improved workers’ rights, health and safety regulations and food safety.

All these hard-won results will be sacrificed in a Tory deregulated Utopia including a Trump trade deal that threatens Scotland’s NHS plus our valuable food and drinks industries, without any say from the Scottish Parliament.

MARY THOMAS

Watson Crescent, Edinburgh