Sir, – Two letter writers, Derek Farmer (March 21) and Mike Rogalski (March 22), took to these pages questioning the post-Brexit transition period agreed by London concerning our fisheries.
Both used the opportunity to argue that the SNP have no right to complain about the agreement as they support EU membership, and by extension the Common Fisheries Policy.
This is simply not true.
The SNP have been opponents of the CFP for decades, with the stated intention of fundamentally reforming the policy or scrapping it entirely.
I don’t know if the two gentlemen are being knowingly dishonest or whether they are simply parroting the mainstream unionist press, which represents almost 95% of the UK’s printed media, or our unionist dominated TV output, both having a less than stellar record of impartiality regarding the SNP or the broader independence movement.
Returning to the fisheries debate, one of the ironies of our present situation is that we now have London-based politicians complaining any future negotiations will exclude them, leaving them outside in the corridor, waiting impotently on details of any new agreements.
A position, let us not forget, these same politicians have historically placed our own Scottish representatives in, and will do again if allowed.
Ken Clark.
15 Thorter Way,
Dundee.
Long-term cost of betrayal
Sir, – I cannot believe the Westminster minority Conservative Government could betray our fishing fleet with its interim Brexit deal. “Britain will leave the Common Fisheries Policy as at March 2019” was their mantra only a week ago.
Ted Heath thought that UK fisheries were expendable and it cost him dear. Theresa May and David Davis have just destroyed the Conservative recovery in Scotland, as they will find out.
Michael C. Smith.
Threapmuir Farm,
Cleish,
Kinross.
Are the farmers next to suffer?
Sir, – What an interesting headline in The Courier (“Farms could fold due to lack of migrant labour”, March 26) about the potential impact of Brexit on the farming industry.
On the back of the fishing industry betrayal, now is it the farmers’ turn?
Further implications of the impact of Brexit are that various car manufacturers, financial institutions, and sundry other companies are leaving their options open about relocating abroad.
How bad does it have to get before the public sees through the fantasy world that Westminster has in mind for the future?
Are people so blinded by their mistrust of “Johnny Foreigner” that they can’t see the damage about to be inflicted on them?
Are they so gullible they believe there are nations around the world who are going to give us super-duper deals which benefit us to their own nation’s detriment?
You can be sure that rich Tories like Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg and their like won’t suffer financially as a result of their reckless actions.
It will be today’s working people who will bear the brunt of Brexit.
The well-off toffs will have their ill-gotten gains salted away in the Cayman Islands or some other tax haven for the rich.
Graham Smith.
135 Charles Avenue,
Arbroath.
Show support for Clara Ponsati
Sir, – It is pleasing to see so many come to the defence of Professor Clara Ponsati, the former minister in the now-deposed Catalan government and an academic at St Andrews University.
While the Spanish Government is seeking her extradition over her role in Catalonia’s independence referendum, charged with rebellion and violence against the unity of the Spanish state, this is no more than a political prosecution of someone who promoted a peaceful referendum. Indeed, the only violence around that particular event was that which came from Spanish forces.
Her chances of successfully fighting extradition are good.
Scotland is bound by the Extradition Act 2003 and is a party to the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) system.
The sheriff is entitled to look at bars to extradition as set out in the Extradition Act and to consider whether extradition is proportionate and compatible with the Human Rights Act.
The criminal offence for which extradition is sought must be a criminal offence in the requested state (Scotland) and the requesting state (Spain). If it is not, then extradition cannot be ordered for that offence.
If Ms Ponsati’s extradition is sought for the offence of sedition, then this offence was abolished in Scotland in 2011, so there is no dual criminality. Secondly, the sheriff can refuse extradition if he or she believes the extradition is politically motivated.
For Ms Ponsati to be targeted for standing up for her political beliefs is deeply alarming, and there is a duty on us to protect and support her.
Alex Orr.
Flat 2,
77 Leamington Tce,
Edinburgh.
This extradition is harmful
Sir, – After our national referendum, Scotland must surely be close to the top of the league table when it comes to putting democratic theory into practice, but that leaves us with a bit of a problem regarding the Catalan woman Clara Ponsati, who is living and working in St Andrews.
Along with other Catalans, she is now named on a European arrest warrant issued by the Spanish Government: their crime is “Sedition against the Spanish State”and members of her group are already in Spanish prisons pending trial while the ‘ring-leader’, Carles Puigdemont, has been seized in Germany.
It is interesting to note that the law being used against these Catalans was brought into being around 1940 by General Franco, one of four dictators tearing Europe apart at that time, the others being Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini.
I trust the High Courts, both in Edinburgh and London, will realise granting the extradition of Ms Ponsati and moving her from St Andrews to a prison in Madrid is counter-productive not only for democracy in general but for the failing European Union in particular.
Archibald A. Lawrie.
5 Church Wynd,
Kingskettle.
Putin can laugh from afar
Sir, – Any state-sponsored assassination attempts should be roundly condemned but how many nations could convince the rest of us their country sits on the moral high ground in these matters?
Investigations following the recent nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia pointed the finger at Russia in general and President Putin in particular, giving the British Prime Minister the opportunity for a grandstanding performance in the House of Commons, which not unexpectedly gained substantial all-party support for positive actions against the perceived perpetrators of such a cowardly act.
The expected expulsion of Russian diplomats has taken place, accompanied by proposals for forms of financial restrictions, none of which, according to experts whose views are not clouded by patriotic verve, will unduly concern President Putin.
Russia still has friends in the rest of the big, wide world and Britain’s influence has been weakened by the turmoil surrounding Brexit.
In the meantime, Mr Putin can sit safely in his comfort zone, waving to Westminster with a gesture akin to that associated with Britain’s war-time leader, Winston Churchill, or perhaps the more recent version accredited to the famous show jumper Harvey Smith.
Allan. A. MacDougall.
37 Forth Park,
Bridge of Allan.
