SOME of your correspondents regularly attack the Scottish Government and Nicola Sturgeon in particular to try to camouflage the ongoing disaster which is Brexit. Surely it is therefore reasonable to look at the probable next leaders of the Tory Party and the drivers of Brexit.
Favourite to replace Theresa May is Boris Johnson. To say that he is willing to offend is an understatement. He managed to insult both Barack Obama and Donald Trump, which is quite spectacularly stupid given he sees the US as our main trading partner post-Brexit. However it is not only presidents he insults, though he did also insult the president of Turkey. He has also managed to insult the people of China, the citizens of Liverpool but perhaps most stunning of all black people when he referred to them as "piccaninnies" with "watermelon smiles". Is there anyone, no matter how committed a Brexiter and Unionist, who would want this individual running the country?
The alternative would appear to be Jacob Rees-Mogg, but he is no less unpalatable. This is the man who retweeted comments by the German leader of the AfD, a far-right political party with Nazi sympathies. This is the Brexit hardliner who has moved his investment assets to Southern Ireland and who will benefit greatly if we can leave the EU before much stricter investigations into tax avoidance come into force. For those who believe that Mr Rees-Mogg is working for you let me remind you that this is the man who said that people who attended state schools were "as thick as potted plants" and added that they were not fit to stand for parliament.
These politicians are motivated solely by self-interest and care little for the rest of the population. To quote Francois de La Rochefoucauld: "The name and pretence of virtue is as serviceable to self-interest as are real vices."
David Stubley,
22 Templeton Crescent, Prestwick.
TORY Party divisions which brought down Prime Ministers and precipitated David Cameron's bid to appease his backbenchers by holding a referendum, the result of which ended his own political career, was only the prequel of what was to come. Laura Kuenssberg's BBC documentary The Brexit Storm was a useful reminder of the long saga of ministerial resignations, of the Conservative Party's bitter civil war, with the European Research Group operating as a party within a party and other Tory MPs quitting in disgust, and of Theresa May's deal being rejected by Parliament, once, twice, thrice. And the common factor running through the current sorry mess, is of a Prime Minister who stubbornly believed that the only way was her way, and who refused to reach out and include not only her own colleagues, but other parties at Westminster and the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales.
As Ms Kuenssberg presented the story of how Mrs May's Brexit intentions and negotiations unravelled, it became clear that given her intransigence, the current chaotic mess was always on the cards; if the foundations are rotten, everything is rotten, and as Mrs May built her Brexit house on sand, the tide was against it, and it, like the Conservative Party, lies ruined at her feet.
Ruth Marr,
99 Grampian Road, Stirling.
YOUR front-page lead story today ("May thrown lifeline as MPs reject all Brexit alternatives", The Herald, April 2) contains a quote from the hard Brexiter Mark Francois referring to the wishes of the 17.4 million who voted to leave the EU and how this was still on track following yesterday's votes in the Commons where once again MPs demonstrated their hopelessness,with the SNP at the forefront, by once again saying what they didn't want rather than what they did want.
This 17.4m number bandied about, usually with an attachment along the lines of "the democratic will of the people" is becoming tedious and repetitive. The electorate was 46 million so just under 29 million did not vote to leave and therefore 17.4 million is only the will of some of the people. Make voting compulsory, either by going to the polling station or postal voting. Yes, you can spoil your vote if you wish but apathy or laziness would not be allowed. Only then could any vote be given the "democratic will of the people" tag.
James Martin,
43 Thomson Drive, Bearsden.
Read more: MPs publish emergency bill to stop UK crashing out of EU in 10 days' time
WITH the current chaos surrounding the Brexit debate, the blame game is now in full swing with the opposition parties (plus a number of Tory dissidents) positioning themselves to gain maximum advantage with the electorate rather than focusing on delivering the 2016 referendum result.
First, there is little mention that it was the EU who laid down the "red lines" in the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) and demanded that the legally-binding document must be passed by Westminster before any meaningful trade discussion could take place.
Indeed the only reference to our future trading arrangements is a 26-page political declaration (a non-legally binding document) which sits beside the 585-page WA where it describes the future trading relationship between the UK and the EU. In other words, formal negotiations on everything it contains (customs union and so on) cannot be discussed until the WA is ratified.
Rather than vote for the WA which would guarantee an orderly withdrawal from the EU and give time to negotiate a trade deal, parties like the SNP and Labour have muddied the waters by insisting on voting about the political declaration which has inadvertently pushed Brexit towards the much harsher WTO rules. This is unacceptable, especially as the PM has already agreed that there will be much more cross-party involvement in any future trade negotiations.
Consequently the PM has been right to focus like a laser to get the WA through Parliament as to date there is no other show in town currently acceptable to the EU to facilitate the prospect of a future trade deal. If the stalemate continues then a General Election must be the only way forward for the voters to vote down the MPs who have thwarted the referendum and increased the likelihood of a no-deal Brexit.
Ian Lakin,
Pinelands, Murtle Den Road, Milltimber, Aberdeen.
AS I understand it, the argument for Brexit centres round returning sovereignty to the globally-respected Parliament in Westminster and negotiating better trade deals around the world than the EU can.
Really? That’s working out well so far.
Cameron Crawford,
Woodlands, Serpentine Road, Rothesay.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel