MUCH though I normally respect Alison Rowan’s opinions, she is wrong to suggest ("Prime Minister has won the battle, but is the war lost?", The Herald, December 13) that the Brexit conundrum can be solved by a General Election. First, the election cannot be confined to Brexit, but will be influenced by other issues such as austerity and whether a party leader is seen as a credible PM. Secondly, almost certainly the winning party, and its manifesto, will have the support of only a minority of the electorate. Thirdly, it means further delay, when we have only 15 weeks less the festive season before there is a No Deal Brexit by default.

Therefore, the only solution is a referendum, which would accord with the principle that a vote of the people can only be reversed by a vote of the people. True, this would need the agreement of the EU to delay the March 29, deadline; but it seems it would be prepared to do this for a referendum including an option to cancel Article 50.

Alastair Wallace,

19 Lixmount Avenue, Trinity, Edinburgh.

WHAT has Theresa May gained from her victory in the confidence vote ("Hollow May left weakened by party ballot", The Herald, December 13)? Freedom from any challenge by her own party to her leadership for 12 months.

At what cost? By conceding that she will not lead the party into the next General Election, she has forfeited much of her authority to remain in office.

The leadership race will now consume the party as the prospective candidates conspire to secure their positions.

Meanwhile several pitfalls await the PM, who has angered many in her party, who do not now seem prepared to support her in crucial debates.

If she brings back from Europe no more than a cosmetic change to the Withdrawal Agreement, no matter how she dresses it up rhetorically, she will find herself on the end of a disastrous rejection of that agreement when she dares to put it to the vote.

If the vote blows this agreement out of the water, it is more than likely to spark a vote of no confidence in her Government and in the current atmosphere that could lead to defeat for the current administration.

Then winning her party's confidence vote would have been worthless.

Her every victory is a Pyrrhic victory and snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory appears to be her forte.

Denis Bruce,

5 Rannoch Gardens, Bishopbriggs.

I THINK the Brexiters cannot be very good at arithmetic, as a 63.1 per cent vote in favour of Theresa May by the Tory Party is not considered a justification for her to remain as PM while the much smaller 52 per cent result of the referendum must be adhered to.

Louie Macari,

42 Imlach Place, Motherwell.

IT seems unreasonable for JS Morrison (Letters, December 12) to take offence at Neil Mackay’s article ("Look around this nation and you will see hatred everywhere", The Herald, December 11). The article is primarily a criticism of the acrimony, divisiveness and damage Brexit has already caused our nation, which is a fact, and concludes that the only rational solution to the impasse is for this important decision on our future to be returned to the people.

Contrary to what your correspondent claims, at no point does Mr Mackay blame or denigrate those who in 2016 sincerely voted Leave. Indeed, he explicitly acknowledges that “how we are seen” as a country “should shame every one of us whether we are Leavers or Remainers”. The problem is how we solve this.

We are in this unenviable and damaging position because of flawed, and essentially self-serving, judgments made by our present (now minority) governing party. It was the Conservatives who called a referendum promising a Brexit that, from the start, was inherently undeliverable. It was undeliverable because it necessarily compromised the Good Friday Agreement – something our present PM, a former Home Secretary, must have been fully aware of. Furthermore, important sectors of the electorate were denied a vote and the referendum was abused by both sides.

Ultimately we are in this situation because we have an outdated electoral system which is fundamentally unrepresentative. That is why we have the mediocre Government and Opposition which have presided, and are presiding, over this mess, which they are now unable to cope with. It seems to me the EU has been remarkably tolerant towards us.

Since the Brexit we were led to expect in 2016 is not, and never will be, possible, why should the British people have to shut up and settle for a second-rate substitute we did not vote for and which will make our already stretched country even poorer? It is reasonable and democratic to ask people again if this is what we really wanted or expected.

Robert Bell,

40 Stewarton Drive,

The Herald, Cambuslang.

IN this total mess of Brexit let me inject a few hard facts. First, the whole process was started by David Cameron as a political move to thwart Ukip in the 2015 General Election and to unite the Tory Party. It was not done in response to any demand from the general population for a referendum to leave Europe. In this purpose it has been a stunning failure.

The promise that Brexit would cut the free movement of people and immigration was one of the driving forces behind the majority Leave vote. My second fact is that, whilst the number of Europeans coming to the UK has indeed dropped considerably, their place has been taken by people from other parts of the world and the net migration figure has stayed more or less constant. Those coming from non-EU countries are currently coming through UK borders that are "controlled" and in accordance with the UK's immigration policy.

My final fact is that this whole process has cost £8.4 billion so far (figure supplied by Ian Murray MP). In contrast, in his Budget the Chancellor gave a mere £1bn over five years to ease the transition into Universal Credit whilst the Government's policy to freeze benefits, which is continuing to 2019/20, cuts nearly £4bn a year from the benefits bill.

All this misery to safeguard the Tory Party – is it worth it?

Judith Gillespie,

40 Findhorn Place, Edinburgh.

IF the UK does finally leave the EU with a backstop arrangement with Northern Ireland in place and the SNP is able to get independence through successfully and regain EU membership therein lies a problem. Are we going to have three backstops/customs borders in place between Ireland and Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland and Scotland and England?

George Dale,

211 Oakwood Drive, Beith.