Readers' letters: Rees-Mogg is living in a Brexit alternative universe

It was not unexpected to note Jacob Rees-Mogg pontificating that there is little evidence that Brexit has damaged UK trade.
Conservative Party MP and newly appointed minister for Brexit opportunities Jacob Rees-Mogg speaks at a political rally organised by the pro-Brexit Leave Means Leave campaign groupConservative Party MP and newly appointed minister for Brexit opportunities Jacob Rees-Mogg speaks at a political rally organised by the pro-Brexit Leave Means Leave campaign group
Conservative Party MP and newly appointed minister for Brexit opportunities Jacob Rees-Mogg speaks at a political rally organised by the pro-Brexit Leave Means Leave campaign group

The delusions of the government's new Brexit opportunities minister know no bounds and fly in the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Last week, Westminster’s Public Accounts Committee said trade had been "suppressed" since the UK cut formal trade ties in January 2021, due a combination of Brexit, Covid and global economic problems.

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The MPs said it was not possible to separate out the precise impact of each factor, but it was "clear" that Brexit had had an impact, with businesses experiencing additional paperwork and border checks when exporting products to EU countries.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which comes up with economic forecasts for the government, said at the time of the Budget in October that both imports and exports with the EU had been hit by Brexit and that both were on track to end up 15 per cent lower as a result of the UK leaving the EU.

It pointed to research from the Centre for European Reform, which concluded that in October 2021 the UK's trade in goods with the EU had been 15.7 per cent, or £12.6bn lower, than it would have been without Brexit.

Mr Rees-Mogg may continue to live in a fantasy world where all in the garden is rosy, but in the real world British businesses are being forced to face up to the harsh realities of Brexit.

Alex Orr, Edinburgh

Tough unionism

With massive Westminster support, "Muscular Unionism" is now desperately trying to destroy and bury Scottish independence.

Boris Johnson's dictatorial pronouncement that independence is "just not going to happen", coincided with unionist commentator Stephen Daisley's comment, "it's time to toss independence into a locked box and bury it 6 feet deep".

However since 2014 a total of 10 elections in Scotland have returned comfortable majorities for independence, with undoubtedly many more people supporting the movement to self government.

These unionist comments ignore the democratic process or indeed the rule of law, but certainly highlight the fact that when the opposition starts to panic you know you are winning!

Grant Frazer, Newtonmore

Post Office inquiry

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A full, transparent, independent inquiry is needed urgently to examine the Post Office Fujitsu scandal, now acknowledged to be the greatest miscarriage of justice of our lifetimes. It has affected 73 sub-postmasters in Scotland.

Individuals were driven to suicide, decent people had their homes repossessed, marriages collapsed; some tried to fruitlessly make up the shortfall; innocent people were imprisoned, they were shunned by their local community; decent people's reputations and livelihoods destroyed. Hundreds were shamefully accused and 736 wrongly convicted of crimes.

Former Minister of Welfare Frank Field MP investigated ‘Horizon’ more than 20 years ago and felt PO management was negligent then. Yet the likes of Paula Vennels, (CEO during the disaster), prosecuted 736 postmasters in the knowledge there were computer glitches.She was supported by Alan Cook (managing director)and Alice Perkins(PO chair).

Fujitsu provided data packs to the PO to prosecute them and even provided witnesses.That data was wrong and the Metropolitan Police are now looking at possible perjury. How have they avoided court litigation?

How are Fujitsu still able to win contracts with the UK Government and managed to extend its PO contract?

Why did no one at the CPS question why a staggering 736 individuals were prosecuted 2000-2014?

Andy Burnham pointed out that 550 postmasters sued the PO successfully for £58m but only got £20k each after eye watering legal fees.

It is appropriate that the Criminal Cases Review Commission are investigating each miscarriage but, make no mistake, those who covered up this scandal and prosecuted decent, honest individuals for theft and false accounting must now face the full force of the law.

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Fujitsu, (with their annual turnover of $36,000M), must be brought to account too. They are belatedly being referred to the DPP by a high court judge.

Sadly it will too late for those who have died waiting to clear their names.

John V Lloyd, Inverkeithing

PO scandal

The current UK public enquiry into the scandalous treatment of postmasters (70 of whom were Scottish) is revealing one of the most despicable cases of boardroom malfeasance in recent years.

It’s now clear the Post Office directors were almost certainly aware of the issues and yet continued to hound the postmasters for crimes they simply did not commit.

It is absolutely essential that the individuals who chose to look the other way, ignore the unfolding injustice or just simply not read their board papers must face prosecution.

In simple terms, when you take on a board position you have to protect the interests of all stakeholders and that includes in the case of the PO the people running their retail operation.

I wonder if Police Scotland should be taking a look?

Simon Forrest, Aylesbury

Skewed statistics

Your article (Scotsman, 19 February) quotes without challenge the latest Scottish Government egalitarian campaign, fuelled by the use of statistics.

Public policy should be based on all the facts surrounding distribution of wealth. Alas, the lurid headline "richest 200 times better off", grossly exaggerates differentials by the indiscriminate use of measurement bias.

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Pension wealth is skewed in this study to the top 10 per cent by taking the capitalised pre-tax value of their occupational pensions. But the widely distributed State pension, which has the characteristic of an inflation-proofed asset and is typically worth at least 20 times its payout expressed in equivalent capital terms, is omitted.

The value of social housing - at a third of market rent and maintenance paid - is not so calculated either, even though a tenancy is a valuable right in property, as evidenced by long waiting lists across Scotland.

The right of lower income groups in later life to free care home nursing and accommodation is not taken into account; the "rich" often have to sell their homes to pay for this expensive necessity.

Universal rights of access to the NHS are a further egalitarian phenomenon, but are not taken into the equation, nor are many other social support mechanisms.

At least the Scottish Government statisticians acknowledge that over a lifetime wealth holding varies naturally, peaking at retirement for many. So may I invite them further to model this factor (which they admit) along with the equalising measures already in the system.

As it stands the statisticians are creating a misleading rhetoric leading to the targeting of a minority for (ultimately counter-productive) further tax rises.

Do we not want skilled workers, successful entrepreneurs, and financially independent savers here?

Cllr Peter Smaill, Conservative Group Leader, Midlothian

Democratic denial

It seems that Laura Waddell is another SNP supporter who does not understand how democracy works (Opinion, 17 February).

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The people of the UK voted in the 2016 referendum to leave the EU. People in Scotland participated in the vote and therefore they should accept the result.

Waddell's gripe that we have been "dragged out of the EU against our will" is anti-democratic tripe. When you vote you should abide by the result.

Refusing to accept the result puts you in the same category as Trump's gang in the USA. They did not like the result of the presidential election, so they began a campaign of denying the legitimacy of the outcome.

By constantly denigrating the election they created a mutinous resentment which led to an attack on the Whitehouse. Waddell needs to think about what Trump's gang did and then reaffirm her commitment to democratic procedures and outcomes.

Les Reid, Edinburgh

Nato membership

The defence of a divided UK was never foremost in the 2014 referendum campaigns, for me membership of Nato was more important than membership of the EU. The growing crisis on the EU's eastern border shows I was right.

Stewart Mcdonald shows the mix of ignorance and fantasy typical of nationalists in his article of a hypothetical independent Scotland's place in Nato (Scotsman, February 19).

As defence spokesman he should know that Nato is a pact for the mutual defence of its members so had no role in actions in Iraq. He shows the usual SNP arrogance in thinking that a large organisation like Nato would bend to the will of a small country that has just weakened it's defence on the northern flank. Nato has to a be nuclear armed or it poses no challenge to nuclear armed powers. Would Nato be happy that a member state spent it 2 per cent of GDP on moving bases south instead of investing in new capability? What of the disruption to the support of UK forces by the many defence industries in Scotland who would also move south?

Now, as in 2014, Scotland's only route to staying in Nato is to stay in the UK.

Dr SJ Clark, Edinburgh

Olympic haiku

I am a curling stone

In a dream with Eve Muirhead's

Eyes staring at me.

Stephen Nisbet, Edinburgh

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