Do not allow our negotiators to rush through an unwise EU exit

LETTERS

THE last couple of weeks have witnessed a seismic shift in general attitudes towards Brexit. Jeremy Corbyn has done a swift U-turn which commits the Labour Party to the single market and customs union in any transitional period (“Corbyn rules out Scottish deal on Brexit in slapdown for Dugdale”, The Herald, August 28). The emphasis on a hard Brexit is disappearing fast as the general mood of the country is softening. The contribution from columnist Chris Deerin (“The world is sinking in a wave of ignorance and selfinterest”, The Herald, August 29) should be essential reading for a society which in many ways seems to be sleepwalking its way to multiple catastrophes, which include Brexit.

In addition, two, well-focused contributions, from David Patrick and P Davidson (Letters, August 29) both see through the sludge and smokescreen put up by the latest psychobabble from David Davis about the EU embracing “flexibility and imagination” in a bid to get them to see things “our way” (“Start talking seriously on Brexit plans, a frustrated Barbier says”, The

Herald, August 28).

The UK has already run out of steam with our negotiating strategy (if we have any). In my view we have little to offer, so we will look for an escape hatch, and as much an optimist as I am I still fear the worst – that we will behave like a pigeon playing chess – it doesn’t know how to play, but really knows how to scatter the pieces on the board when it gets amongst them.

We must not allow our negotiators to engineer an exit on the grounds that “the EU negotiators are inflexible and unreasonable – so let’s get off here”. If we do not have the arguments the plan, or the skill to get a deal for UK which does not disadvantage the nation, then we must take what we can get and put it to the country again or concede, as gracefully as we can, that life inside the EU is better than life outside.

Ian McLaren, 27 Buchanan Drive, Lenzie.

THE recent refusal by Theresa May to abstract the students from the list of immigrants shows just how inaccurate the immigration figures really are. Since 98 per cent of the students return to their country of origin it is nonsense to include them in the statistics.

Furthermore as Home Secretary, Theresa May made a complete mess of controlling immigration by reducing the number of immigration officers. I met one of the immigration officers on holiday who gave up his job at Gatwick as the job became impossible to do due to staff cutbacks.

One of the key reasons for coming out of Europe has been immigration. This problem has been unjustly blamed on the EU. It is not Europe’s fault, but Mrs May’s.

Ed Archer, 18 Hope Street, Lanark.

THE Rev Dr John Cameron (Letters, August 29) seems to be no fan of Nicola Sturgeon or the SNP and he is entitled to his opinion. However he is not entitled to present as fact that which is hotly disputed. The GERS figures which he describes as “devastating”, he must know do not give any indication of how an independent Scotland would fare because they assume that all the decisions made by the current Westminster Government would also be made by a Scottish administration.

You may as well say that because the American government has set its face against affordable health care for all its citizens, all other countries, including our own, would follow suit. In a Scotland wholly governed by the SNP, for instance, we would not have to spend huge amount on nuclear weapons that threaten the safety of the bulk of our population and are kept conveniently distant from London and the Tory shires.

In addition we would not be subsidising railways that will never come anywhere near us while we receive not a penny towards our own vital infrastructure.

Dr Cameron states as a fact that health care, education, justice and the police are being messed up by the SNP Government and it is undeniable that all these affairs could be improved. I ask him, however, to consider whether direct London rule would be better. He cannot surely maintain that education and health matters are better south of the Border than here.

We are about to see the opening of the Queensferry Crossing, a magnificent feat of engineering which will be admired all over the world and will ensure safe and speedy travel between Edinburgh and Fife and has been completed well under budget. In spite of the fact that the BBC has never given any credit to Nicola Sturgeon’s Government for this, he must know that it would never have been undertaken had it not been for the vision of the SNP at Holyrood. When the existing road bridge falls in to the Forth, it will still be there to use and admire.

The Rev Dr may not be a fan of our First Minister or the party she leads but it would be nice to see him giving them just a wee bit of credit.

David C Purdie, 12 Mayburn Vale, Loanhead, Midlothian.

THE Rev Dr John Cameron states that the SNP Government had made a “total shambles” since it came into office; as the people of Scotland elected the SNP by a single seat the first time, then overwhelmingly re-elected it for two further terms it would not seem Dr Cameron’s opinions are widely shared.

At a personal level, on the health front, I required a serious operation some 18 months ago, and I was given superior service, standard, although I am an octogenarian; looking at the health service south of the Border I am pleased I live here, emphasis on the “live”.

Perhaps Dr Cameron should get out more.

Jim Lynch,

42 Corstorphine Hill Crescent, Edinburgh.

YOUR correspondent Alan M Morris (Letters, August 29) is to be thanked for reminding us about the existence of Andrew Wilson and the prospect of his answering vital questions about how Scotland will thrive economically when the £13 billion UK subsidy is removed. His report is taking so long to produce, like most people I had quite forgotten him.

I wonder if it will be worth the wait: his last pronouncement was that it would take at least a decade of ultra-austerity to even get back to parity with the status quo of the UK.

Peter A Russell, 87 Munro Road, Jordanhill, Glasgow.