Scotland and Northern Ireland should break free and form a Confederation of the Gaelic States

Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

The Brexit negotiations have stalled once again on the question of the Northern Ireland border (AFP/Getty Images)

So now it appears that Theresa May is probably going to be the last prime minister of the United Kingdom.

If I understand the mess that Britain has got itself into with Brexit, Northern Ireland is to remain a de facto member of the EU, or at least the EEA, Scotland wants to remain as a part as does Wales, and London the capital of our once-proud nation also wants to remain.

Forget London, as it is a part of England, and England voted to leave, and forget Wales as it did the same. But let us consider Northern Ireland and Scotland. If they were to forge a union and become one, let us say, the “Confederation of Gaelic States”, that would solve the problem.

Scotland could become Britain’s land border with the EU.

Perhaps we should even allow the Welsh another vote and see if they wish to join the confederation, as they’ve never really liked the English anyway. Then Britain – or should I say England – can really start to enjoy freedom from the European Union or any union, including the union of the United Kingdom.

Well done, Theresa May – perhaps the next step is to allow separate kingdoms within England, now that really would be getting back to the good old days, just like everybody wanted.

Name and address supplied

I wonder is it time for the two nations – Ireland and Scotland – to put together a proposal for joint membership of the EU? With their similar population size, education systems and geography, this pair of Celtic fringe members, each located on a multi-nation island off the western coast of Europe, might get a good deal from Brussels. Economically, strategically and emotionally, it makes sense. The deal could include provision for anyone living in Northern Ireland to relocate to the Irish Republic or Scotland if they would prefer to remain living in the EU.

The Plantation of Ulster was the organised colonisation of the northern part of Ireland which began officially in 1609. Most of the colonists came from Scotland and England and the land was seized from Irish chieftains such as Hugh O’Neill (who had fled Ireland to seek help from Spain in 1607).

I have a relative (now passed away) who was born in Cork in the 1920s.She married an Ulsterman, a staunch unionist, in the early 1950s. They moved to Scotland, where they settled and had their family. She admitted to me once that she had met relatives of her husband who believed that “the Plantations” had meant the planting of trees in Northern Ireland. History contorts itself according to who is doing the telling and who is doing the teaching.

If this new forward-thinking alliance were to happen between Scotland and Ireland, then Northern Ireland, Wales and England would become the new United Kingdom, the three Brexiteers.

Alison Hackett
County Dublin

Forget an Irish border – put one in the middle of England instead

I have found the perfect solution. Why not draw a line across England at about that part at which support for leaving the EU becomes strongest, say from the River Dee to The Wash. Those parts below the line – including London and the South-east – could then remain in the EU (along with Scotland and Northern Ireland). Those who voted to leave could leave.

Everyone will be satisfied. The Irish border remains fully open. Those who voted to remain could remain and not suffer any economic disruption. Those who voted to leave could leave and only they would face the economic consequences of their decision. Those living in the wrong area would be given the opportunity to move to the other. There would just be two land borders to police in the same way as other European land borders.

John Harvey
Bristol

Theresa May must remain calm in the Brexit negotiations

I’m a committed Remainer but believe Theresa May needs some help in her current situation. It was predictable that the DUP would object to any agreement that might make a distinction between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. At the same time, the right wing of the Conservative Party would always find grounds to object to issues they see as pandering to Brussels.

My advice to May is to ignore these noises from the fringes and pursue the middle ground. In addition, point out the uniqueness of the Northern Ireland situation to Scotland, Wales and London when they push for their own deals. You will win any Brexit vote in the Commons, and Northern Ireland will receive the biggest boost to its economy in a generation.

Geoff Adams
Inverness-shire

Has anyone asked for Sinn Fein’s view?

What worries me in all the British media coverage of this that it focuses on the DUP alone. There is a major voice missing from the stage who nobody seems to be consulting – Sinn Fein. The future peace of Northern Ireland is at stake, not just what happens to its borders with the rest of Ireland or with mainland Britain.

Meirion Rees
Atworth

What’s happened to David Davis?

Reading today’s issue of The Independent I am only five pages in and they are all devoted to covering the Prime Minister’s disastrous attempts at negotiating Brexit terms. It seems the pictures of a rather sad Theresa May have replaced once and for all the eternally grinning ones of our chief negotiator David Davis. Has he resigned, as he threatened, or merely – and not before time – been sacked?

G Forward
Stirling

A second referendum is needed on the single market

As voters were not asked for their opinion on the single market or the customs union, and this seems likely to now derail Brexit, why not put it in a new referendum while putting Brexit on hold? I’m sure the EU would agree.

John Simpson
Ross on Wye