Letters: Our politicians are sleepwalking into the arms of the Brexit bear

Complaints about the mouse of the Chancellor’s recent Budget are trivial when our politicians are sleepwalking into the arms of the Brexit bear.

There will be no good deal from the Europeans we wish to leave behind. If we seem poorly treated as members of the EU, what can we expect as fugitives from It?

Economic predictions are discouraging. Industry, commerce and public services seem bound to suffer.

If we are disappointed with the performance of the NHS now, we should not be surprised with longer waiting lists and more delayed procedures. Schools will be increasingly short of qualified teachers.

If we complain about Universal Credit now, how will we react when even less credit is available? Perhaps we will not be able even to stock our food banks as the queues lengthen. Can we be confident that pensions will be secure? Will the elderly and disabled continue to receive care? Other privileges like travel concessions and winter fuel allowances will require review.

The evidence is now before us, but have our politicians enough moral courage to stop the process? Resignations may occur, parties may be split, but if that is the cost of protecting our country it is a price worth paying.

Alistair Macleod,

39 Lodge Walk,

Elie, Leven, Fife.

THE attempt by Dundee to become European Capital of Culture in 2023 is one of the casualties of Brexit which, we must remember, was the choice of well over a million Scots (“Dundee vows to battle on after City of Culture ban”, The Herald, November 24). Nicola Sturgeon called on the UK Government to “fix it” but, as she didn't suggest how that might be done, her demand was little more than tokenism and virtue signalling.

Dundee's bid organisers had continued with their plans despite the referendum result. However the rules of the competition, updated in 2014, are perfectly clear. It's open to member states and as the UK has indicated it is leaving the single market, it doesn't fit into any of the specified categories. Sadly, it appears we cannot have our cake and eat it.

Rev Dr John Cameron,

10 Howard Place, St Andrews.

DID not Nicola Sturgeon have a face to face meeting with Michel Barnier in Brussels on July 13 last? If so, why did she not discuss the European Capital of Culture scenario for Dundee with him at that time?

Methinks she dropped the dumpling, so no point of manufacturing a grievance with Westminster, as in this instance it cannot be construed as a reserved matter.

Archie Burleigh,

Meigle Cottage, Skelmorlie.

SO, it is now apparent that leaving the EU has caused a fall in the value of the pound, resulting in increased prices of imported goods, the resultant increase in inflation putting UK citizens under financial pressure. High quality scientific and financial jobs are being lost to the remaining 27 nations. UK cities can no longer apply to assume the role of the European Capital of Culture. We are faced with paying up to £40 billion as part of our divorce settlement unless we go for a hard Brexit and pay nothing.

Anyone like to offer up some confirmed benefits of the UK leaving the EU?

Jim Coley,

Calderwood Road,

Rutherglen, Glasgow.

CUTTING through all the grandstanding point and counterpoint in the Westminster Budget deliberations and, at times, antics, the Office for Budget Responsibility has downgraded the UK’s projected productivity growth.

Things can only get worse, to crib another slogan of recent yore. Labour front bench persons voted with the Conservatives to take the UK out of the single market and customs union.

It seems the macro management of the economy by Westminster is failing while we still have free and frictionless access to the single market and being in the customs union. What will befall us after we leave the EU is anyone's guess, as Westminster cannot be effective in maximising gain within the biggest single market in Europe. I say Westminster, as Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour voted with the Conservatives to write into the Brexit Bill exit from the single market and customs union.

An amendment to keep the UK, and by implication Scotland in the single market and customs unionwas proposed by a Scottish Labour MP and supported by the SNP.

Where does that leave the branch now? What will the reaction be from Labour MSPs? Scots voted for remain, lest they forget.

Perhaps Labour in Scotland will start to question head office? Still Better Together or not?

John Edgar,

4 Merrygreen Place, Stewarton.

AS a dedicated European federalist I am often asked why I also support the ideals of the Scottish National Party. This obvious contradiction is for many a debilitating conundrum which deserves further examination.

Under European statehood, an independent Scotland would not become the introverted and isolationist haven craved by some, but would rather be an autonomous state in a union of equals. It would sit alongside our friends in England but no longer have to endure the second-class status imposed by government from Westminster. The current shambles in that body makes the case even more pressing.

European Scotland should also be a strong advocate for the drastic changes which are required within the European Union. The disastrous Common Fisheries Policy should be replaced with Scots deciding who fishes in Scottish waters. Similarly, autonomous control of all Scottish waters should ensure a sizeable percentage of oil and renewable taxes would remain in Scotland rather than disappear down south as has been the case to date. Sixty per cent of taxes raised in a state like Texas remain there and a similar arrangement should prevail here.

The European dream is still alive and Scotland should not only be a member, it should be at the forefront in transforming a continent which spawned two world wars into a union for peace. The defence budget alone would plummet, per capita, but still be by far the biggest on the globe.

This is why I support both Scottish nationalism and European federalism.

Peter Mearns,

6a St Swithin Street, Aberdeen.