Sir, – Jane Morrice suggests a new Celtic association (which excludes Wales) in the EU ("Scotland is the key to what happens with Northern Ireland", Opinion & Analysis, December 28th).
First, the comparison with the Benelux countries is nonsense as they are sovereign countries, while Scotland and Northern Ireland, whether they like it or not, are part of the UK.
Second, the suggested option that Labour could spearhead, and indeed win, a second referendum is laughable. Westminster and the English public have made it clear that the second referendum ship has sailed.
Third, the EU would not agree to membership for piecemeal parts of countries as it could herald future chaos across the region, from Catalonia to Gibraltar.
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However, the biggest mistake is to think that EU membership will magically resolve issues in Scotland.
Just as the English vote to leave was more about immigration than EU membership, so too the reaction to Brexit in Scotland is about much more than EU membership.
The cold realisation in Scotland is that they will remain part of the UK in which the English electorate, and often English nationalists, make decisions on their behalf, from military to environmental action.
Scotland’s first minister made it clear on Christmas Eve that, “it’s time to chart our own future as an independent European nation”. – Yours, etc,
DAMIEN
BENNETT,
Belfast.