Letters: It is time for Remainers to bite the bullet and back this deal

Therefore, surely the Remainer politicians, who are quite rightly vehemently opposed to no deal, should face reality and support the deal that is now on the table (“Brexit deal in the balance”, The Herald, October 18), particularly as the EU has indicated that no further time extensions will be allowed.

As the Iron Chancellor Bismarck famously stated: “Politics is the art of the possible.”

W MacIntyre, East Kilbride.

BORIS Johnson is recommending a Brexit deal largely the same as that proposed by Theresa May, which he voted against twice. It is clear he was motivated by personal ambition rather than the good of the country. Ireland will be treated differently from the rest of the UK, at least initially and thus Nicola Sturgeon will continue to claim the high moral ground and use this to argue for a referendum in Scotland on independence.

The only option has to be a binding referendum for people in the UK to decide in or out based on the deal, with an independent evaluation of the impact of the deal on the economy and jobs. The same should be true for any Scottish referendum on independence, agree or not in principle and then a final vote based on the negotiated deal. This should be followed by a separate vote on EU membership once a deal is negotiate.

All of the party leaders are, at present, taking a stance which they think will benefit their own political objectives and are not interested in the needs of the population at large. Disgraceful behaviour which should rightly see them banned from political office. The issue of membership of the EU must be resolved before any election and this time the result should be binding, not advisory as was the case with the first referendum on Brexit. Thereafter, an election can be held on the basis of party policies and an improved knowledge of the impact on the economy.

Bill Eadie,

Giffnock.

MUCH criticism has been made about our PM’s so-called new deal. I have however seen televised interviews with the very people in Northern England who voted to leave the EU, and they often refer positively to it.

In many cases the people appeared so fed up with the prevarication over Brexit that they agreed to accept the deal in desperation. I feel that they have not thought through all the plans for Northern Ireland.

Many who voted to leave the EU did so, at least anecdotally, because of the EU policy on free movement of labour under article 45 of the Treaty of Rome.

It seems that it will be possible, for example, for a Romanian worker to get on a ferry at Cherbourg to Dublin with a false letter promising work with a fellow Romanian. Since there will be no hard border with Northern Ireland it appears that it will be easy for him to slip over into what is part of the UK.

I then expect he will be able to acquire, by whatever means, a UK passport from what I anticipate will be a roaring trade and get on a ferry at Belfast to either Liverpool or Cairnryan. At worst he could procure a boat and travel himself the 12 miles between Northern Ireland. and Scotland.

I expect the historic issues of North and Southern Ireland will haunt us in new ways when we leave the EU and we will have to adopt much tighter vigilance at our own mainland ports and borders.

Bill Brown, Milngavie.

NICOLA Sturgeon hit out instantly at Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal. Did she even have time to actually read it? She says it was clear that Scotland was being treated unfairly. Really? What about how her party’s policies have unfairly treated motorists via extra parking costs, schoolchildren via less subject choices, parents via banning smacking, ill people via numerous health service failures such as GP and hospital waiting times and mental health provision, house buyers via high taxation on purchases as well as the increasing burden upon ordinary taxpayers and commuters via poor public transport.

What is really unfair to Scots is having the desire to have another independence referendum foisted upon us daily instead of attending to these everyday problems.

Dr Gerald Edwards, Glasgow G77.

ONCE again we see the incommensurate influence which a small group can exert on a minority government (“DUP kingmakers could quash Johnson’s last ditch hopes”, The Herald, October 18). Recently we had in Scotland the Greens, with no one directly elected to the Scottish Parliament, being able to impose, in exchange for their votes for the SNP budget, what has become known as “the poll tax on wheels”.

Now we see the DUP, with only 10 MPs, having sustained Theresa May in power since the 2017 General Election and having secured £1 billion for use in Northern Ireland, now playing hard to get over Prime Minister’s deal with the EU. This is a party already out of sync with majority social attitudes in the rest of the UK in relation to a number of matters, including abortion and same-sex marriage. One DUP member is reported to have said that “Peter will not marry Paul in Northern Ireland”.

Recent times have not helped to strengthen the case for minority governments with all the sometimes doubtful deal-making and uncertainties.

Ian W Thomson, Lenzie.

IT was George Orwell who observed: “In our age there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics’. All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.”

I was particularly struck by his inclusion of the last component.

Duncan McAra, Bishopbriggs.

Read more: How a No Deal Brexit will affect me