There will be a Brexit deal and Boris won’t be Prime Minister – so stop panicking

Over the next two months or so, the UK will be involved in one of the most significant international negotiations that has taken place for several generations, the result of which will materially affect us all.

In that time, the UK government will have to pull out all the stops to get a good deal. In the same time frame, the EU will try to undermine our negotiating position at every turn.

The opposition parties in the UK, including the SNP here in Scotland, will undertake a relentless campaign to undermine the UK negotiating position as well, with the intention of destroying it. I think we have all been able to understand that their desire to tear down the government of the day is more intense than their desire to get a good Brexit agreement. Principled positions are little in evidence.

Against all this relentless messaging and scaremongering, we need to keep everything in context. There will be an agreement because it is too important to everyone concerned not to have an agreement. Boris Johnston is not going to become Prime Minister because he has none of the qualities that people in this country look for in a Prime Minister. Our security position is not going to fall apart.

We don’t know the precise nature of any deal because the final negotiated settlement has not yet been agreed, and we will not now know this until it has been agreed. If there are areas of uncertainty, we will have two years during the transition period to deal with these.

In Scotland, the SNP will have no impact on the negotiations whatsoever, because they said early on that they would not support Brexit legislation under any circumstances. We would expect people in such a position to shout the loudest, despite many of them not being clear in their own minds whether they want to be in the EU or not. As such, we need to be careful who we listen to. Those that are prolific at turning out press releases are not necessarily those with the right answers on all this.

VICTOR CLEMENTS Taybridge Terrace, Aberfeldy