In Brief

Sir: Rupert Cornwell writes that the reason Madrid gives for not returning to Morocco the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla is that when the enclaves were captured the state of Morocco did not exist ("Why has Madrid got tough now?", 12 February). So how can they be handed "back"? This argument is false. Spain did not take Ceuta from any indigenous ruler, Moroccan or otherwise, in 1580, but from Portugal, when that country regained its independence from Spain in 1640/41. So what abut setting an example for Gibraltar, and returning Ceuta to Portugal, senors?

JOHN EVANS

Marlow, Buckinghamshire