SO Jeremy Corbyn confirms he will go through with Brexit should Labour win a General Election.

Hasn’t he just rendered the party unelectable to all those who believe Brexit is a political, economic and social disaster? And shouldn’t he remember there are already a number of Leave voters who recognise the farce it is and wouldn’t vote for it again?

Corbyn has emphasised his belief that the answer to the current Westminster shambles is through a General Election. But with both major parties split down the middle isn’t it almost certain that the new parliament would be as split as it is now?

Politicians created the mess, they allowed a flawed referendum, run over a short 12-week period, and have accorded it a legally binding democratic status it was never entitled to have, since it was more akin to an advisory vote.

Now it has been elevated to political sacrosanct status the politicians have backed themselves into a corner and there is only one way out for the UK, and that’s for the people to vote again, and to base their decision on the real circumstances we are now painfully aware of.

We’re luckier in Scotland because we can satisfy the will here by taking the route back into Europe through independence should we decide to do so.

Either way, only self government can break us free from the lies and deceit of Westminster power games.
Jim Taylor
Edinburgh

LISTENING to Richard Leonard’s radio interview this morning was like listening to a schoolboy trying to find an excuse to get out of trouble in front of his headmaster.

Contrary to his Westminster leader, Jeremy Corbyn, he did not have a view about Brexit if Labour won a new snap election. The best Leonard could say when asked the question was that it would depend on what the membership decided. Several times he was pushed even just for a personal opinion and each time he gave several versions of the same answer.

We have read that Jeremy Corbyn will back Brexit if elected in a snap election (Labour government ‘will carry out Brexit’, January 11). Is he aware of the Scottish Labour branch’s seeming indecision on whether Brexit will be voted for or against? Or is Richard Leonard too scared to offer a personal view in case he contradicts his Westminster leader?
Alan Magnus-Bennett
Fife

‘A PARLIAMENT of rooks” is the collective noun for an assembly of a type of corvid. For an apt description of Westminster’s main parties one should preface the last word with a “c”.

‘Corby’ is a Scots word for crow. Does Corbyn derive from ‘corvid’? The Labour leader has little to crow about. He doesn’t seem to stand for anything. At crucial votes he sits on the fence and his party sit on their hands. When presented with an open goal by the PM, Corby declines to shoot.

His school progress report suggests he is incapable of learning lessons from the past, summing up: “Jeremy pursues his studies with little hope of catching up with them.”

Unlike his boss, Corbyn’s Scottish branch leader has shown himself only too ready to shoot – usually himself, in the foot. The gift that keeps on giving (to the SNP) persists in attacking the FM on matters reserved to Westminster.

His report concludes: “Richard has not done his homework”.
James Stevenson
Auchterarder

THE sales figures released by the British Retail Consortium are neither shocking nor surprising (Christmas sales woe for High Street, January 11).

While the likes of Lidl and Tesco have come out on top, the future looks much less rosy for some of Britain’s high street stalwarts.

With a rapidly changing retail landscape in the UK, it simply isn’t enough for retailers to stand still, and those that survive this retail renaissance will be the market disrupters, the movers and shakers, the innovators.

Recent research carried out by Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States found that companies pursuing innovation as their core business strategy realise 50 to 100% profit margins than those who don’t.

When I looked at the business strategies of retailers operating in Scotland, very few had a clear strategy for innovation. Lidl and Tesco were amongst only a handful of other retailers pursuing innovation as their core business strategy, so it doesn’t come as a surprise they are hailing a successful Christmas trading period.

With consumer spending at an all-time low, Brexit uncertainty, and rising business rates all taking their toll, innovation is no longer an optional extra, it is a marker of survival. I just hope those struggling in the retail sector learn this before it’s too late.
Helen Potter CEO and co-founder, Potter & Potter Ltd