JUST when Corbyn had a chance to gain the initiative from the Maybot and her merry Brexiteers over the single market and customs union, he stumbles and refuses to come right out and support remaining in them.

Instead, he starts babbling on about obtaining this mythical-tariff free access that the Conservatives dream about – and let’s be perfectly clear, this will not happen, as Michel Barnier has clearly stated on several occasions. What part of “not a chance” do May and Corbyn fail to understand?

Corbyn warns, erroneously, that staying in the single market could hamper the Government’s ability to protect jobs and invest in industry. What are you on about Jez? The EU provides safety and protection for jobs and workers, while the huge amount of grants and aid we currently receive back helps infrastructure and industry projects. Going outside of that will mean Saint Theresa and her buddies the captains of industry will do what they want to workers rights and there will be no recourse to the European courts.

Methinks ol’ Jez has become a bit muddled, and it doesn’t help that there are members of his party that openly support Brexit. How he – as a supposed socialist and leader of the party – tolerates this is mystifying, especially at a time when we need the official opposition to be of one mind and being able to freely connect with the other parties to form a single, strong and potentially lethal opposition to May and her suicidal plans.

Really now is the time for Labour to get its act together. They have a golden opportunity – with the Maybot’s Florence speech missing the mark by a country mile and her continued fragility – to rip her Brexit plans to shreds. If Corbyn could just make up his mind what the hell he wants and unify his party, and join forces with the others like the SNP who, despite having members with varying opinions on Brexit, all believe in stopping May from carrying out her economic and social suicide, it would provide a catalyst for the potential Conservative Remainers to gravitate towards.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man, Jeremy – stand up and be counted and remembered for the right reasons, and not for being the plonker who couldn’t get it together before it was all too late. It won’t be any good for you to stand up in Parliament and say “I told you so” to the Maybot – by that time it will all be too late.

Ade Hegney, Helensburgh

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INVESTMENT BANK NEEDS TO TAKE ITS LEAD FROM SILICON VALLEY

I APPLAUD George Kerevan’s plea for a Scottish National Investment Bank worthy of the name (The SNIB is a vital cog needed to grow our economy ... here’s how to do it right, The National, September 25). He makes a good case for a more adventurous approach than appears to be in prospect with the appointment of a retail banker to head this new entity.

I have seen the way retail banks like RBS and others approach lending to emerging growth companies. In particular, there is a sad absence of capability in the banking community in Scotland to recognise how to support companies that do not operate with bricks and mortar and machinery against which loans can be secured.

For example, I have seen software companies turned away despite having contracts with major US companies because the accounts receivable from those companies was not from a UK business and the product was an intangible asset.

Having lived and worked in the USA for many years I have seen one US bank that does know how to do it well, and that is the Silicon Valley Bank. It would have been better to raid someone from them to head up the SNIB, at least to get things running.

I hope I am wrong but it does sound like the SNIB is going to be just another banking entity using traditional banking yardsticks without the benefit of entrepreneurial leadership and innovative, risk-taking business knowledge.

David Cairns, Finavon

THE Scottish National Investment Bank is absolutely what Scotland needs to grow our economy but I share George Kerevan’s concerns about the choice of leader to head this bank.

Surely it should be someone with a long career in investment banking? We need people who have lived and breathed the world of investment banking and can bring all that knowledge and experience with them so they can hit the ground running from the very inception of our new SNIB.

The Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank was founded by merchants from different countries who invested in the bank to grow trade and commerce. Their efforts were certainly successful. Hong Kong developed a booming economy which continues today, two centuries later. People involved in international trade should be recruited to help advise on the model for our new bank.

SC, Aberdeen

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NICK Clegg says that a second Brexit vote is justified because older voters who would have been likely to vote to Leave will have been dying off, leaving more younger voters who would have probably voted to Remain. (Clegg: Brexit supporters dying so let’s vote again, The National, September 25).

Given that the same can be said for a second independence referendum, with bells on, can we count on his support and the support of the LibDems as a whole?

Sandra Durning, Glasgow

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I WAS interested recently to hear Scottish Labour leadership candidate Anas Sarwar denounce the Health Secretary as “out of her depth” and call on her to be sacked.

Perhaps the Health Secretary, and indeed all the staff in our NHS, would have an easier job do if Anas Sarwar’s family business didn’t make millions of pounds by punting cigarettes and cheap booze to poor people in deprived housing estates.

Tommy Ball, Glasgow