Lost EU benefits will become increasingly obvious - your views

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Lost EU benefits will become obvious

The Ulster Unionists voted against the Brexit deal because it put up a barrier between Northern Ireland and the UK as Northern Ireland will still in the single market, customs union with a border down the Irish Sea.

Yet Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU and Cabinet Secretary Michael Gove praised the benefits of Northern Ireland in its unique position, yet denied it to Scotland, which voted to remain.

Labour in Scotland voted agin the deal, yet Sir Keir Starmer and Labour in London, including South Edinbuirgh MP Ian Murray, voted for it! Tensions and cross cutting splits!

The LibDems in London and in Holyrood voted against the deal along with the SNP. Where does that leave the LibDems in Scotland? Are they going to go Indy2, as the Scots voted for the EU?

The English LibDems did not stand up for their English voters who voted to leave the EU! How this will pan out in UnionDom is anyone’s guess! The key is to watch out from the ‘detail’, which Boris Johnson does not grasp, the ongoing revelations about the actual deal beyond the Tory hype!

The true result of the lost benefits of membership will become increasingly obvious.

John Edgar, Kilmaurs, Ayrshire.

‘Gay conversion’ ban

We welcome that more than 370 religious leaders from around the world are calling for a ban on so-called “gay conversion therapy.”

Some conservative religious groups who support this ridiculous treatment fear that their efforts to change people might be criminalised. Quite rightly so.

This a step in the right direction but many religions, while stopping short of electric shocks, still prescribe life-long celibacy for gay people and advocate a “love the sinner… hate the sin” dogma, which is virtually the same thing.

Neil Barber, Edinburgh Secular Society, Saughtonhall Drive.

Dealing with SNP

The logical consequence of the SNP position on the UK-EU tariff-free trade deal, which SNP MPs voted against in the Commons, is that were they in the majority, they would be voting in a no deal - with many food items soaring in price. Does the SNP's voting decision suggest Nicola Sturgeon considers the chaos of WTO terms is advantageous for jobs and the economy of Scotland?

Maybe she's secretly a hard line Brexiteer! Or does she believe that no deal would benefit her party's independence crusade?

Martin Redfern, Melrose, Roxburghshire.

Time to end ‘isms’

My fervent wish for 2021 is that as well as the complete eradication of the coronavirus and a workable settlement with the EU, another victory for humanity can be recorded.

Please let it be the year that all these unpleasant ‘’isms’’ are eradicated also. Nationalism is perhaps the worst and most pervasive, but communism has also proven to be a most unpleasant creed, and it also has taken its toll on the human race.

It is time to toss them all away and let the only ‘’ism’’ be internationalism.

Alexander McKay, New Cut Rigg, Edinburgh.

Homeless solution

How did we manage to clear the homeless from the streets when the virus was in its infancy, yet we can't keep them in accommodation now?

I suggest we do away with the Scottish parliament building and convert it into flats for the homeless. It would then be used for something useful rather than wasted on lots of hot air and petty grievances.

Michael Roger, Henderson Court, East Calder.