Boris’s Brexit deal is far from oven-ready - your views

Boris’s Brexit deal far from oven-ready

It suited Boris Johnson prior to the last election to sign an oven-ready deal which promised to keep to the EU's regulatory regime.

Once he won his election, however, the oven-ready agreements over Ireland and regulatory regimes soon unraveled. It is a sign of things to come that Boris Johnson's promises are so eagerly finessed. His bottom line is that he must keep faith with his activated base, other issues are of secondary concern.

How does years of activation by an hysterical, anti-immigration Tory press affect voters?

Many love the defiant rhetoric. 'No prime minister can accept that we won't have choices on regulatory regimes' he insists. Surely he couldn't have realised exactly what he was signing before the last election - was it oven ready or voter-ready?

Now we are told we have an oven-ready Australian deal to look forward to. But this is a euphemistic statement, as Australia has no deal with the EU, just as the Tory claim of success in creating low unemployment is also euphemistic as it includes zero hours contracts in the figures.

In January when prices go up and destitution becomes widespread we will hear more euphemisms, no doubt. But we won't hear about how zero hours workers are coping with rising prices.

Andrew Vass, Corbiehill Place, Edinburgh.

Remember this chaos at indyref2 time

It seems likely that, in the months and years to come, Scotland will once again hold a referendum on independence.

And, as sure as night follows day, the pro-union side of the business lobby will caution of all the related ‘uncertainty’, the impossibility of planning, the deterrents to investing in Scotland while that democratic process unfolds. So, no matter what emerges from the Prime Minister’s chaotic EU talks over the weekend, it is worth bookmarking our current position.

As part of the UK, we are now literally days away from the most fundamental changes in many decades to the trading arrangements with our biggest trading partner. And yet the UK government can tell us almost nothing about what those new arrangements are likely to be. Thanks to the Conservative government’s series of ‘red line issues’, we have ended up at two minutes to dinner time, with an ‘oven-ready’ deal splattered all over the kitchen floor. This is Peak Uncertainty, and it has arisen within the UK.

Chris Hegarty, Glenorchy Road, North Berwick.

We need answers over ferry contract

Senior management at Ferguson Marine say they were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements to stop them talking about yard business. But the Scottish government says they were not asked to sign any NDAs.

Bearing in mind the way this nationalised yard is performing, where costs of these ferries have so far doubled and delivery is four years late, we really need to get to the truth about every aspect of this mismanaged mess that the totally unqualified SNP administration stupidly took over!

Michael Miller, Carron, Falkirk.

Searching for Rabbie

As Scotland rolls out of the vaccinations that may eliminate coronavirus, the First Minister’s team of special advisers will be under orders to unearth a grievance of any kind in the new-found co-operation.

The SNP have their own priorities and it is not only in finding a ‘Robert Burns’ from Ayrshire to match Boris’s William Shakespeare to get jabbed publicly as soon as possible.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh.