THE Tory Snake Oil Brexit Challenge is now well under way, and shaping up to deliver the best snake oil seller that the Ukip/Tory party can supply, so that it can compete on equal terms with the Ukip/Brexit Party.

Lies, half-truths, dishonest inferences and exaggeration are qualities insufficient for the post of UK Ukip/Tory prime minister, and an ego largeness beyond reality is clearly required.

While it used to be the rule that one couldn’t be trusted by the party if one couldn’t be trusted by one’s family, this has been turned on its head by the Ukip/Tory party, so that only someone who is utterly untrustworthy to one’s family is deemed to have what it takes to compete on equal terms with the Ukip/Brexit Party.

The Ukip/Tory Snake Oil Brexit Challenge Bus is heading unwaveringly to its ultimate hard Brexit destination. The only Commons questions now are how many Red Tory MPs will spurn Mr Corbyn’s instruction and vote for more poison in the environment, lower real wages and working conditions and lower human rights across the UK.

Not deregulating and not reducing standards makes the proposed Snake Oil Brexit somewhat pointless. Nevertheless, it will be defended by many as necessary and what they voted for, and they will be led/supported by the mainstream media.

The consequential problem, as always, is that scapegoats must be found to ameliorate any blame, and the “Not Real British” may well be the target. Race, colour, creed, gender and political stereotypes will all play their part in the forthcoming and delusional attempts to save the UK Ukip/Tory/Brexit Party.

Scotland, for its part, may well find itself as a national scapegoat, with its relatively progressive views on race, creed, gender and politics (all by no means perfect). Perhaps the people of Scotland should take Ruth Davidson’s most recent advice and vote in a majority SNP Scottish Government. With Green Party MSPs in addition to this majority, it would also fulfil her previous advice on how to move Scotland forward to independence.

Scotland now needs to set out the standards and regulation it considers either desirable and/or the absolute minimum, and await the UK Government’s resort to the Supreme Court to quash such treachery. It would appear that the Section 30 approach is now unfortunately becoming somewhat snake oil bound, leaving the more awkward choices in referenda, declarations and national elections.
Stephen Tingle
Greater Glasgow

BREXIT has brought the Tory party to what is beginning to look like its final demise. It has also caused wide division in the Labour Party.

However, as Steve Arnott pointed out in a Long Letter last week (June 12), it could cause division in the Yes Movement if some of the keen EU supporters in the SNP choose to keep implying that Scottish independence and EU full membership are linked.

I am one of the many independence supporters who voted to come out of the EU. I do not want Scotland to be part of the neo-liberal political organisation which the EU has become. I have no objection to Scotland being in the single market and the customs union, and I was delighted when Nicola put forward the compromise proposal to the May Government for a Norway-style deal, which I would be perfectly happy with.

I will myself support Scottish independence no matter what view the SNP leadership take on this issue, because that to me is the most important issue. But like Steve, I only wish some of the SNP leadership would not muddy the water on this – we do not want to get Scotland dragged into the mess that English politics has gotten iself into with unclear language and ideas on this subject.
Andy Anderson
Saltcoats

IT’S been well reported in the National the BBC’ s unfair approach to the SNP’s opinions. And yet The National continues to cover what’s happening in Westminster in a far more equitable manner. Personally, I’m not interested in the Tory leadership circus. And if I did all I need to do is switch on the BBC! So may I be bold enough to suggest to the National editorial team, unless it’s a damning report, keep Tory news down to a mere paragraph!
Robin Maclean
Fort Augustus

RUTH Davidson calls herself a One Nation Tory, but that nation is not Scotland.
Richard Easson
Dornoch

WHEN and if Ruth Davidson wins an election (which she has never done) as the Scottish Conservative leader, maybe then she’d be entitled to make demands of the people of Scotland.
Peter Mackie
Ellon, Aberdeenshire

I HAVE noticed on social media and some consumer websites a call for a boycott of the payment to the BBC for a TV licence when over 75.

While I sympathise with this action, we should be careful not to “shoot the messenger”. The scheme will be entirely funded by the UK Government until June next year. In 2015, they announced their intention to withdraw this service and transfer the responsibility to the BBC.

I was part of a loud and vociferous protest at the time, in the clear belief that our national broadcaster should not be made responsible for the administration and cost of government social policy, but these protests fell of deaf ears.

Let us be clear. It is true that the free licence benefits both the richest and poorest in society, but to means test the benefit would mean accessing people’s welfare status. To allow an independent corporation to see this information is something I for one would oppose vigorously.

The National:

The responsibility for the withdrawal of the free licence rests fair and square with the Westminster Government and the BBC should not be punished for the mean and petty-minded policies which forced them into the position they have taken.

A much more appropriate campaign would be to insist that the government takes responsibility for its social policies itself and continues to fund the free licence, either, and preferably, as a universal, or else, a means-tested benefit.
Pete Rowberry
Duns

I MUST say I was pleasantly surprised to see a tweet from Perth and Kinross Council advising us all that “Air pollution affects us all but has the most impact on young children, the elderly, and people with existing lung or heart conditions. Make simple changes to the way you travel on #CleanAirDay”.

This call to arms is very welcome, and coupled with the climate emergency that is upon us, means that we all need to take immediate action.

My question to Perth and Kinross Council is just what actions are you going to take to reduce air pollution in our city? I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling great shame and embarrassment when I see Atholl Street feature in the annual “Most polluted streets in Scotland” table.

As well as the news that Scotland as a whole is struggling to address transport-based pollution, how about we look into the following and implement them as soon as possible:

1. Ban all heavy goods vehicles from the city (if goods must be transported by road to here, then a transfer hub where goods are offloaded on to smaller electric vehicles should be built on the outskirts of town)

2. Only allow electric/hybrid powered buses on our streets

3. Only allow electric/hybrid powered taxis on our streets (this along with the buses should be an easy win)

4. Only allow electric/hybrid powered private cars on our streets.

Obviously this is not an exhaustive list, but it is a start, and given the human and environmental consequences, it is something we should be taking very seriously.

So, Perth and Kinross Council, other than a Clean Air Day, what’s your plan?
Stewart Riddick
Perth

ALTHOUGH Kezia Dugdale has stated that she intends to resign from the Scottish Parliament before the summer recess to take up her new “job”, she is still gracing Holyrood with her presence. To invoke Oliver Cromwell, “You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”
Joe Cowan
Balmedie

THE European Union is incriminating itself by arbitrarily applying human rights and burying its head in the sand.

Last year, a trial was opened against Poland and Hungary to implement the so-called Article 7, which could lead, for these countries, to losing the right to vote within the European Union. In Hungary there is corruption, the independence of the media is being questioned and the judiciary is under pressure. In the Polish Government, some “tweaks” have been applied from which politics has been allowed to influence the judiciary and the public media.

Spain is no more than 2000 kilometres west of Hungary and Poland. There, human rights are being seriously violated in the face of a European Union that prefers to look the other way.

Democratically elected Catalan politicians have been in pre-trial detention since 2017. The trial against them, on charges of rebellion, sedition and embezzlement of public money, began in February.

The way in which the trial is being conducted is a matter of great concern at the international level: requests for international observers have been rejected, people have been dissuaded from being able to testify in their own language, most of the witnesses to the defences have been rejected and the images that demonstrate the peaceful nature of the actions of the accused and the violence with which the Spanish state acted have not been accepted as evidence yet. The extreme-right party Vox acts as a co-accuser in this process; in this way, a political party is directly influencing this atypical trial. Surprising.

I am also concerned about the partiality of the judiciary. Mr Marchena is the president of the court. When in November 2018 it was decided that he was the one who was going to continue being president of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court, Senator Cosidó, of the Popular Party sent the following whatsapp message: “We’ll control the second chamber from behind the scenes.”

And what is the European Union’s reaction to all this? A deafening silence. Like the former UN human rights rapporteur, Alfred de Zayas, I also wonder: Why are such drastic measures being applied against Hungary and Poland, but nobody says a word about what is happening in Spain?
Laura Prat Bertrams
Amsterdam