We should be reforming, not abandoning, the European Union

IF you are running a business and wished to start a project your first inclination would be to look for the simplest and most straightforward route to achieving your objective. It can be summed up by a quote I recently came across in a speech by Abraham Lincoln: “If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do and how to do it.” This thought seems apposite to our present dilemma over Brexit; should we stay in or get out?

Although the referendum in June 2016 was advisory, politicians have, for presumably political reasons, decided to treat the decision as mandatory and have committed themselves to follow what they describe as “the will of the people”. The UK constitution is a parliamentary democracy and MPs elected at a General Election are required to make decision in the interests of the country and the wellbeing of it citizens.

Brexiters claim that in the long run the country and its economy will be much better out of the EU. The long run may be several decades given the complexity of the negotiations to leave and the enormous cost in replacing the trading and other advantages of membership. We shall also be alone in a highly competitive world and at the beck and call of the major economies of the United States, China, Russia and those about to be large such as India, Brazil and Indonesia. And we shall not be a member of a trading group as most other nations are.

Our economy is not competitive and our industries and services will struggle to make headway. It would be simpler to spend “the long run” in joining those in the EU who wish to see a programme of reform, which is already being mooted by the leaders of several members.

John J Blanche,

Delting, Boquhan, Balfron.

WITH the re-emergence of major problems in the European Union such as the renewed migrant flow crisis and the Italian bank crisis, Brexit is beginning to look like an increasingly positive move as the EU gradually descends into even more chaos. It has become apparent that even Ireland is now wakening up to the possibility of leaving the EU in preference for closer ties with the United Kingdom. This leaves the SNP, not for the first time, rather exposed as following the wrong policy. It would have been much more sensible for the SNP to have seen the writing on the wall about the future of Europe and forged even closer links with the Westminster Government in its quest for Brexit. The EU is not the perfect solution to Europe’s problems. It would appear it is the perfect anathema.

Dr Gerald Edwards, Broom Road, Glasgow.