Readers' letters: Scottish meat and dairy trade harmed by Brexit

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The Scottish meat and dairy industries are in deep trouble – not from the pandemic or Ukraine war, but the UK Government and its miserable Brexit.

Liz Truss sold our farmers down the river with the New Zealand and Australian trade deals, which allow unlimited quantities of tariff free, unregulated and often inferior quality beef, lamb and cheese into the UK.

Had we, as Scotland wanted, remained in the EU, this would not be happening, as the EU has strict quotas on imports and higher food standards.

And it’s all for nothing, since trade with New Zealand and Australia is less than two per cent of total UK trade and won’t help the dismal UK trade deficit but will drive farmers over the edge. But we should know by now that England doesn’t care if Scotland is harmed, indeed that often seems to be the point.

Furthermore, these deals were stitched up without involving Scotland. They are so bad for us that the New Zealand negotiators could hardly believe their luck and/or the stupidity of the UK negotiators in concluding them.

This is par for the course as long as Scotland remains tied to a Union that strips our assets and is now betraying our agricultural sector, making us, like England, dependent on food imports.

At the same time the British state spends billions on Trident, increasing our collective insecurity and storing these lethal weapons on Scottish, not English, soil.

Leah Gunn Barrett, Edinburgh.

Populist benefits are costly for Scotland

So Nicola Sturgeon posts the news on social media that Scotland is the first country in the world to protect the right to free sanitary products - something initially championed by Scottish Labour and with Tory and Lib Dem support.Absolutely fair enough. But if the Scottish administration wants to introduce these kinds of benefits, not available elsewhere in the UK, they must be prepared to increase taxes yet further above rates paid by other UK taxpayers.

The SNP's penchant for populist universal, untargeted benefits is set to cause Scotland financial problems over the next few years, with possible further Scottish-only tax rises to come.

Nicola Sturgeon may well have left Holyrood and even Scotland before this happens, but will Scots be paying the price for many years for her 'vote buying' tactics?

Martin Redfern, Melrose.

Perth protestors don’t speak for me

Once again the rabble of SNP supporters have been shown up as the ignorant, arrogant and totally obnoxious people that they are in the Perth Conservative hustings.

Do they not realise that they are showing up not only themselves but the rest of the Scottish people?

Should (god forbid) Scotland somehow achieve independence, is this what we have to look forward to? No democracy but rabble rule.

Please close the Scottish parliament and let's get on with the important things this country (UK) needs to be done.

Michael Rogers, East Calder.

Peace talks needed

I've seen little effort by prominent politicians or the UN to try to bring peace to the Ukraine.

These same politicians say we are on track to catastrophic climate change by 2030. If nuclear war breaks out over the Ukraine it certainly won't do the climate much good.

Can someone please give peace a chance? It also might bring energy bills down!

Geoff Moore, Alness.

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