Letters: Fake News is now part of the armoury of the Tory arch-Brexiters

The fact that he cheerfully endorsed the movement of his management company Somerset Capital to Dublin in 2018 due to the "considerable uncertainty" that Brexit may visit on the British economy does not, I'm sure, seem a tad hypocritical to the MP for North East Somerset.

Similarly, David Mundell insists, outlandishly and in apparent desperation, that the visibly damaging Brexit process is strengthening devolution in the UK ("Mundell: Brexit strengthens, not damages the UK", The Herald, February 21), contradicting previous statements by former Prime Minister, John Major and practically every informed economic and political analyst in Britain.

Fake news, it would appear, is not solely a Trumpian phenomenon.

Owen Kelly,

8 Dunvegan Drive, Stirling.

YET again we have another nationalist correspondent, in this case John Edgar (Letters, February 20) confusing a UK-wide vote on remaining or staying in the EU with the very controlled Scottish referendum on independence on which the rUK had no say. Having your cake and eating it springs to mind.

However the main part of his letter was to give us a lecture on the British car industry claiming that investment “largely” comes from outside the country – apparently the £3.6 billion annually invested in research and development doesn’t count nor that Motorsport Valley (near Silverton) is home to seven out of the 10 world’s top Formula 1 teams which employs 25,000 highly skilled engineers with £9bn of worldwide sales.

Although we should all be concerned about about any job losses in the car industry it is important to understand why rather than to politicise it with Brexit to suit the nationalist agenda. For example he cites the closure of Honda’s Swindon plant as “ironic” as an EU-Japan trade deal has just come into force permitting the Japanese to export directly into the EU without tariffs. Clearly this was the main reason for the announced closure coupled with the fact they wanted to consolidate the production of electric cars in Japan, period. The EU did us no favours here.

Having said that plants without roots (foreign-owned) which export up to 90 per cent of the vehicles, highly dependent on “just-in-time” parts outwith the UK (55 per cent) is plain daft and should over time be changed to domestically-focused manufacturing. For example only 12 per cent (approximately) of the British market of 2.7m vehicles are produced in the UK with the rest imported – the vast majority from the EU.

Finally, most people understand the future is no longer with diesel cars but self-driving, hybrid and electric cars and Brexit (albeit painful) should be the catalyst to bring about the change in direction needed for the British car industry and if so Scotland should also seize the opportunity to become a significant player in the vast and highly lucrative components industry.

Ian Lakin,

Pinelands, Murtle Den Road, Milltimber, Aberdeen.

JOHN Edgar writes a very convincing letter regarding the perils of Brexit on our exports.

Conveniently he misses a significant point. France is not our number three export market, it is in fact number four. The rest of the UK, would, in his scenario be number one, with the United States and the Netherlands in second and third respectively.

Brexit is indeed a mortal danger to our manufacturing industries but we should not forget the importance of the UK to our “exports”.

Ian McNair,

James Street, Cellardyke.

RUTH Marr (Letters, February 21) makes the point that there are no splits, no defections and no civil war within the SNP at Westminster. What she fails to point out is the fact that this party is driven by Holyrood and is only focused on one event – independence.

It operates as a block with one voice which is set to a default position of opposition to any bill put forward by the Government no matter how constructive. Dissent within its ranks is not permitted and anyone not toeing the party line is considered as betraying party loyalties. Whilst this unhealthy state of affairs persists within this group, the other main parties are engaged in what can only be described on occasion as passionate debate. This is necessary in order to ensure all sides of an argument are aired, and whilst some members may be disenchanted with a party position at least they are free to go their own way.

Christopher H Jones,

25 Ruthven Avenue, Giffnock.

WE had another surreal day, on top of many of them, at Westminster today. Prime Minister's Questions came and went with low key skirmishes between an increasingly irrelevant Leader of the Opposition and the robotic PM, her answers stuck on repeat ("New group of TIGers on prowl ... eyeing up their prey from seats behind SNP", The Herald, February 21). It was a Groundhog Day of the same tired, familiar arguments. No blows were landed. An ignoble scoreless draw.

Except that neither of the clearly embarrassed leaders could bring themselves to mention the “elephant in the room”, the resignations from their parliamentary parties. Do they believe that if they ignore the reality of their parties’ collapse, the problem will go away? Who knows how long this farce can go on. Surely not all the way to March 29 and the cliff edge. And what on earth does Theresa May think she can achieve by turning up in Brussels this week?

One thing is clear. Mrs May and Jeremy Corbyn need each other and have so much more in common than ever they would admit. They are united by their self-serving incompetence.

Bill Wright,

151 Broomhill Drive, Glasgow.

AS centrist politicians continue to resign from the two main parties, extremists on either side may well converge to form an unlikely coalition - the ERG rump of the Conservative party with the anti-Semites of Labour. This could be further bolstered by forming an alliance with Nigel Farage's Brexit party, which would prove irresistable to the electorate south of the Border – hence a General Election landslide.

Now for action ... dispatch a warship to Belgium with Theresa May at the helm – because of her familiarity with how to get there, she is co-opted into the group as leader. In Brussels, they throw up their hands in horror and speedily capitulate. But wait a minute, what about these pesky Scots? Dispatch a couple of battle tanks to George Square – job done.

Andrew Chesters,

15 Gilloch Crescent, Dumfries.

Read more: Mundell issues coded threat