Readers' letters: Brexit opportunities don’t exist, Jacob

Wonder how many Brexit opportunities Jacob Rees-Mogg has received from Sun readers?

Meanwhile, Ireland is hoovering them up as the volume of goods shipped from Ireland to the EU, bypassing the UK, has shot up 50 per cent in the last six months. Northern Ireland’s three ports are getting a piece of the action, too.

It turns out that Rees-Mogg also likes Ireland. His City firm, Somerset Capital Management, opened two investment funds in Dublin, well before the hard Brexit deal he was so keen on ‘got done.’ He knew that otherwise he’d be cut off from European investors.

The recent House of Commons Public Accounts Committee report concluded that “the only detectable impact [of Brexit] so far is increased costs, paperwork and border delays.”

Pre-Brexit, exports were a fifth of Scottish GDP. In the year to June 2021, they plummeted 25 per cent compared to 2019. Many firms have given up on trading with EU companies because of red tape.

The Oz trade deal won’t increase UK GDP by even a tenth of a percent, will raise transport emissions, allow inferior quality beef and lamb to flood the market and undercut Scottish farmers, threatening their livelihoods.The deal was done without Scotland’s involvement.

Scotland lost £2.1bn in EU funds for infrastructure, poverty alleviation and agricultural support. The Westminster fund replaces just 60 per cent.

Scotland’s opportunities lie with Europe as an independent nation, not with the failed UK state.

Leah Gunn Barrett, Edinburgh.

Nationalist rage should be tempered

Former BBC correspondent, Sarah Smith, and other journalists should be commended for speaking out about high levels of abuse they've received in Scotland, principally from nationalists.

Politics in Scotland is unusual in that a single issue massively dominates: Scexit. It's a black and white issue, there are few shades of grey and emotions can run high.According to the SNP constitution, independence is its primary objective, so nationalist politicians every day seemingly spin whatever happens in Scotland to provide an anti-UK slant.Nicola Sturgeon, despite SNP infighting, remains highly influential in nationalist circles yet apparently does next to nothing to attempt to control the more fanatical in the separatist movement she leads.

But isn't it time Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP establishment spoke out strongly and acted decisively to protect all those with a public role in the polarised, toxic environment of Scottish politics?

Martin Redfern, Melrose.

Short-term lets

I do hope Edinburgh Council votes to regulate and licence short-term letting, which can have very anti-social in its effects on blameless, quiet neighbours whose peace and property security is too often infringed by weekend revellers on Airbnb stays.

And I trust that other councils, including East Lothian, are looking at bringing in similar measures.

Gus Logan, North Berwick

Altmann’s pension

If Baroness Dr Ros Altmann claimed that the UK would continue to pay Scottish pensions after independence, she must have overlooked that fact that independence breaks up the historic Great Britain and, consequently, the UK.If the UK no longer exists it cannot continue to pay any pensions. Pensions would be the responsibility of the successor states: Scotland and what's left of the UK.

Steuart Campbell, Edinburgh.

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