AT last, good sense is beginning to prevail. It appears that the arguments in favour of Brexit, shouted by some hard-liners in the Tory party and very few others, are getting weaker and the voices of reason are emerging. David Martin MEP’s call to Labour to halt Brexit saying that Labour “could and should be the vehicle to stop Brexit” is welcome ("Scots Labour MEP calls on Labour to halt Brexit", The Herald, July7) as is the similar call from the CBI. Sir Vince Cable calls for Brexit to be reversed. Lord [Chris] Patten has said Theresa May's approach to Brexit is a complete shambles, unsustainable and the UK will either become further impoverished, or rejoin the Brussels bloc. He also said the EU was the only reason Britain had any power in the world. There are now three options: Hard Brexit, Soft Brexit or No Brexit.

Struan Stevenson weighs in with severe warnings on behalf of the farming community (“Scrap calamitous Brexit urges senior Scottish Tory”, The Herald, July 12). You recently ran a four-page special, Beyond Brexit, recently and it was very hard to detect anything positive in the content. The NHS throughout the UK is suffering from total inability to recruit doctors and nurses and it is obvious that no one from the EU is likely to want to come and work here now while this madness continues. The same applies to the fruit and vegetable farmers and any other enterprise that uses large numbers of seasonal workers.

There will be plenty of supporters for scrapping Brexit. The Lib Dems, SNP, Greens and many in the Tory Party itself together with all the Remainers will surely put political differences aside in a campaign to halt this national suicide. As the economy weakens, inflation increases, food prices continue to rise, more and more sections of the population are discovering how Brexit will disadvantage them seriously and overseas trade missions so far seem to have met with little enthusiasm a change of mind would appear to be the sensible conclusion.

Nigel Dewar Gibb,

15 Kirklee Road, Glasgow.

WELL spoken, Struan Stevenson – at last someone has the sense to say it straight. Ever since David Cameron blew it and Theresa May took over the drum we have had nothing but continual gloom and doom about Brexit. Every man has his say and while the sub-headings may vary the basic message continues the same – Brexit will cause nothing but trouble, misery and woe. Your Letters Pages confirm daily what your news pages proclaim.

Instead of arguing, complaining, forecasting and spreading thoughts of misery throughout the land, aye, and across Europe at times, why don’t we jack in the whole miserable idea and return to the status quo? The plan is to introduce widespread confusion on the basis of a majority so thin it couldn’t be seen sideways – even if it still prevails after all that has been said.

Give us a rest. Drop the whole idea.

Alan Sinclair,

40 Switchback Road, Bearsden.

AFTER the shambolic performance of the unprepared British negotiating team at the first round of formal talks, the EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier suggested it might help if David Davis sent his negotiating position on key issues ahead of the second round.

Responding to Boris Johnson’s childish reaction to the single financial settlement (“Barnier tells Johnson to listen for ticking of a Brexit trade deal clock”, The Herald, July 13), he said it is essential that the UK recognise the existence of financial obligations of around 100 billion euros which are simply a result of the period in which it was an EU member.

The need for the UK to find a better team is growing more and more critical because it’s only after sufficient progress has been made on the divorce bill, citizens’ rights, and the Northern Ireland border that trade and other relationships will even start to be discussed.

Rev Dr John Cameron,

10 Howard Place, St Andrews.

I HOPE I will not be judged unpatriotic when I suggest that harum-scarum Boris Johnson, our undiplomatic Foreign Secretary, was fortunate that he was not blown a collective raspberry from EU negotiators following his throwaway comment that Brussels could “go whistle” if it expected a large sum settlement as part of the withdrawal agreement.

Mr Johnson and his cronies whistling in the dark seems more to the point; and as far as avoiding likely farce I ain't holding my breath.

R Russell Smith,

96 Milton Road, Kilbirnie.

I WAS furious when I discovered that Nicola Sturgeon was going to Brussels to meet with Michel Barnier. She should be back in Scotland where she belongs attending to the corner shop and doing the day job.

European affairs should be left to the experts like Theresa May, David Davis, Michael Gove and ... er … Boris Johnson.

Hugh Cumming,

25 Cameron Crescent, Buckie.

SO Nicola Sturgeon is off to Brussels to meet Michael Barnier (“SNP warns PM hard Brexit can be blocked by Holyrood”, The Herald, July 13) to discuss “Scotland's priorities” – sounds more like she is attempting to play the sympathy card (it wisnae me) for the forthcoming Brexit negotiations in the forlorn hope it could help in her independence ambitions.

As recently as the end of April she stated that albeit the UK was leaving the EU the UK should remain in the single market. This does not make sense as full membership of the single market requires all participants to guarantee the free movement of goods, capital, services and labour – the "four freedoms" of the EU.

Perhaps she meant access to the single market via the European Economic Area (EEA) like Norway but still sign up to the "four freedoms" and pay a similar per capita as per full membership? Either way her stance goes against what the people voted for in the UK-wide EU referendum.

Furthermore, the First Minister has suggested that any deal that does not have full access to the single market should be classified as "extreme"– which is clearly nonsense as many bespoke free trade deals have been struck with countries outside the EU single market.

If Ms Sturgeon was indeed intent on “protecting Scotland's interests” she should first recognise the greatest threat Scots face is not a new free trade agreement with the EU but the break-up of the UK internal market where we sell four times the value of our goods and services. Fat chance.

Ian Lakin,

Pinelands, Murtle Den Road, Milltimber, Aberdeen.