NEWLY elected Prime Minister Boris Johnson has passed an EU Withdrawal Bill through a now compliant Westminster Parliament. He claims it proves he is “getting Brexit done” with his “oven-ready” agreement. However, having stripped out key components of the agreement he reached with the EU in November (and campaigned on in the recent Westminster election), that agreement is not the one they signed up to. He has, in effect, re-opened negotiations with the EU with absolutely no guarantee they will simply wave through the changes he wants in his crusade to turn the UK into a European sweatshop.

Why would they offer favourable terms to a UK Government that wants to undercut them by worsening terms and conditions for workers in the UK? If the UK strips out workers’ rights from the Withdrawal Agreement the EU will be perfectly justified in expecting further changes to November’s deal that will be detrimental to the UK in an attempt to offset this.

Of course, Boris Johnson knows this and has set the whole thing up as a trap for the EU. He will claim he negotiated a deal in good faith in November and, when the EU rightly rejects his newly modified deal in January, blame them for the collapse in talks due to intransigence. He will then, with faux reluctance, leave the EU without a deal. Essentially, the No-Deal Brexit he and his pals in the Brexiteer wing of the Tory party and Nigel Farage always wanted. A deal that will see many of that ilk make a serious fortune while the rest of us suffer the consequences.

The National:

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I find it strange that the UK media has not picked up on the fact that Johnson unilaterally changing the terms of the agreement effectively nullifies it unless the EU agrees to the changes. They have not picked up on the fact he has effectively and deliberately sabotaged his own deal by making these changes without EU consent. They have not picked up on the fact that the protection of workers’ rights enshrined in the November agreement was a key reason former Labour voters in England felt safe to switch their support to Johnson in the recent election and that they have now been betrayed by him.

Then again, given the slavish adherence to the party line in the mainstream UK media, is any of that strange at all?
Stuart Allan
Perth

THIS is a time for remembering. But my memory of how it actually was at the time does not quite chime with events as portrayed in parliament by some Tory MPs.

I think it is shameful of them to liken leaving the EU to the victory over Hitler when the fact is that the EU’s greatest achievement has been avoidance of war in Europe for more than 70 years.

Then there is the other who frequently tries to justify his behaviour by telling us that his

father was at the D-Day landings. Certainly something to be proud of and to be remembered. But we should also remember that his father was in the company of 150,000 other fathers, brothers, cousins and uncles, not all of whom were English or even British.

Then we had the sickening comment that “we did not win the war to be told what to do by a Kraut”. The first part of which comment is correct, ie “we did not win the war”. The war was won by the Allies, a very important part of which was Great Britain. But the Allies comprised forces from several countries including some the Brexiteers now demonise. In fairness it should also be remembered that in keeping Hitler’s armies in the east during the battle of Stalingrad, etc, the Russians also played a very important part in Hitler’s defeat.

Unfortunately, while I am ever so pleased that after an election campaign of lies and suppression of information the result is fewer Tory MPs representing (I use the word loosely) Scotland, why are there any? I regret that the lasting picture in my mind is of former MP Kirstene Hair and the number of times when speaking to Scottish viewers from College Green she said all of the constituents she had spoken to said they just wanted Brexit done. This in the knowledge that every Scottish constituency had overwhelmingly voted against Brexit. I regret that she has not only shown disrespect for fellow Scots but has also let down her generation.

The National:

WATCH: Question Time audience laughs when Tory says PM cares about Scotland

Please assure me there is no chance that she will get a peerage.
Robert Johnston
Airdrie

IF there’s one thing we can deduce from this last week, it’s this. England is too scared to go it alone and stand on its own two feet. They know it’s impossible without the income from Scotland’s resources. When they talk up this “one nation” codswallop of theirs, the one nation they are referencing is England!

How many mandates do the SNP need and how many times do we need to remind all interviewers (Scottish and English) that these already exist and are in place?

They talk endlessly of not respecting the result in 2014. However, if they had respected the Vow (otherwise known as the lie!) we might not be where we are now. As it is, it needs pointing out that the Tories have not respected the general election results of 2015 or 2017! How many elections were they prepared to countenance until they got the result they wanted?

It’s time our Westminster MPs started calling out the PM at his weekly question time on England’s shocking NHS, education and school stats – embarrassing him on home turf, as it were – and make him squirm in front of his one-nation little Englander backbenches.

Westminster needs to request our legislative consent to continue with the Brexit carry-on. Might I wonder if it’s not possible for the First Minister to request an audience with the Queen and request that in the interests of the whole UK, she refuse royal assent for the bill?

The “oven” may we’ll be on, but we all know who the turkey is!
Steve Cunningham
Aberdeen