If the Scots go, should the Union flag change?

IT’S suggested that if Scotland went independent, the Union Jack would have to be redesigned. Why? The Union Jack should be retained for the same reason it was kept after Irish Independence in 1921. At the time, it was concluded that the cost of a global rebranding exercise replacing the existing flag with a new design minus the St Patrick saltire would be massive. It’s important to remember that those living in England account for 84 per cent of the UK’s population. And they aren’t necessarily English. In 2014, it was estimated 750,000 people born in Scotland lived in England and there are countless more with Scottish ancestry. Scotland is home to the Scots, Ireland home to the Irish and Wales home to the Welsh, but England is home to the British. The Union Jack, in addition to being an instantly recognisable and beautiful work of heraldic art that tells a ‘warts-and-all’ story going back centuries, would still best represent this amalgam of peoples, even without the Celtic fringes. DAVID GREEN, Southport, Merseyside. IReLAND has been a republic for almost 70 years, yet the Fitzgerald cross (red saltire on white field) remains on the Union flag. The presence of the Fitzgerald cross is, of course, the reason why the flag is, on occasion, inadvertently flown inverted. If the Scottish saltire and Fitzgerald cross were removed, this would allow the flag to be corrected to its original design proportions. On balance, in the absence of any other reason, I would support Scottish independence solely in order to create a neater flag. Vexillology trumps vexation. TERENCE TRELAWNEY GOWER,

Lowestoft, Suffolk.