YOU report that Jeremy Corbyn has said that the UK’s priority in its Brexit negotiations must be “tariff-free trade access to the European market” (“Corbyn’s priority is tariff-free EU trade”, The Herald, July 21). Not for the first time, Mr Corbyn has grasped the wrong end of the stick.

The problem for UK exporters post-Brexit isn’t so much tariff barriers as the many non-tariff barriers that will arise. With the devaluation of the pound since the EU referendum, UK goods are very competitive in the wider EU market, and that effect probably outweighs any tariffs that might be introduced. It may also help explain why the UK economy has proved resilient since the vote to leave the EU.

However, once out of the EU, there will be a host of non-tariff barriers. There will be customs checks; there will be bureaucratic processes to follow that will slow down the flow of goods; and there will be extra costs in ensuring that UK goods meet EU standards – the two regimes will inevitably diverge. The flow of trade will be slowed, and time is money.

I applaud those who continue to fight a rearguard action against Brexit. However, I dread to think of the reaction of the other 27 member states if, at the end of two years of detailed negotiations, we turn round and say: “It’s all been a big mistake, we want to stay.” The UK has only rarely been an enthusiastic member of the EU, and I’m not convinced that we’d be welcomed back as a disruptive, sulky and semi-detached member, even if our tail was firmly between our legs. The decision’s been made, we need to make the best of this bad job and turn our energies here in Scotland to building the case for independence; independence in Europe, that is.

Doug Maughan,

52 Menteith View, Dunblane.

REFERENDUMS and liberal democracies do not sit at all well together. The binary-like nature of the EU referendum, “in” or “out”, runs counter to pluralism, a given in any worthwhile liberal democracy. Therefore Brexiters cannot be both – in favour of referenda and pluralist democrats. If they opt for referenda over a pluralist democracy, then they agree with Margaret Thatcher, hardly a liberal politician in her days, who viewed referenda as no more than political tools for “dictators and demagogues”.

Brexit, as an idea, is neither right nor wrong. It is what it is. But what is profoundly disturbing about Brexit is its suddenness and "unstoppability". And it is this suddenness and "unstoppability" that should cause all of us to pause, reflect and ask ourselves – now that the right to exercise a black and white choice has been expressed, how do we reconcile this, at least in principle, with a pluralist democracy? How do we care for those who expressed a contrary view, those who did not express a view, and those who wanted to but could not? Hard core Brexiters do not feel the need to concern themselves with such bagatelles, but British citizens should. Do they want Brexit? If yes, are they prepared for it? As the American novelist Philip Roth observed, we tend to think of history as long term, whereas it is a very sudden thing – catching us all on the hop and off guard; hardly an ideal position to be in at the best of times.

P Fabien,

41 Kingsborough Gardens, Glasgow.

PHILIP Adams (Letters, July 20) concludes his missive with the view that had the “slim majority (in the 2016 referendum) been for Remain, the pseudo-democrats wouldn’t now be crying foul”.

This simply goes to show how crude and divisive the expedient of a referendum is, especially when the result is as close as it was last year.

In a matter as important and complex as continued membership of the EU, I would have thought that, for change to the status quo, a desire should be expressed which is both genuine and clear.

The result of the 2016 referendum has failed on both counts. We are only now finding out the true implications and costs of leaving the EU, and the result itself was so close as to be, in terms of what people may really want, indecisive.

Robert Bell,

40 Stewarton Drive,

Cambuslang.

WHEN we joined the European Union we were looking for peaceful international trade and travel with all its benefits. Steadily we were outvoted on matters such as the maximum size of lorries in our small island, the opening of our fishing areas to such guzzlers as the Spanish, the shape and size of bananas to suit the Germans, chocolate recipes preferred by Belgians as well as more important matters in regard to justice decisions outwith our control. Immigration and the debts of newer members are only the straws which broke the camel’s back.

Yet we had many well-paid representatives in Brussels, supposedly fighting for us and they were not all failed politicians (from Wales) so what were they doing for us?

Now we are sending in our notice of resignation and nobody on either side is offering re-negotiation for possible continued membership. Instead we are being asked to pay a not-insignificant sum to allow the EU to continue with practices with which we find intolerable.

Once I have paid my entrance fee to a club or cinema I do not expect to pay an exit fee or contribute to the welfare of those who choose to remain.

As for redundancy payments to our staff and representatives in Brussels, why not give them final warnings for unsatisfactory work unless they get us out of this mess?

Bryce Drummond,

2 South Hamilton Place. Kilmarnock.

READERS of Kenny MacAskill’s contribution of Tuesday last (“Who will step up to the plate to avert disaster in Europe?”, The Herald, July 18) must have been struck by the supreme irony of his words. He was casting back in time to the events of 1914 and the First World War when all he needed to do was go back three years to the events of 2014 and the Scottish independence referendum.

He attempted to sell a similar deal to the Scots as we are in today between Britain and Europe. Both, independence and Brexit, are a step in the dark and whoever puts forward a referendum to fundamentally change Scotland or the UK need to make the margin of success much more than 50 per cent plus one vote to save us from ourselves.

John Evans,

78 South Street, Greenock