LETTERS SPECIAL

A no-win situation

WHERE lies democracy if not in the overall voice of the people? How has a vote suddenly been reclassified as relevant only if it accords with the ideology of the current leader?

The SNP has one goal which is an independent Scotland at any cost. The pledge to the people to remain in the EU is at best delusional but in reality a lie.

Scotland may at present be in the EU but only under the umbrella of the United Kingdom. A new independent Scotland would have to apply for membership and meet tough conditions.

It would also be obliged to adopt the euro which has already been shown to be a disaster.

However, Spain has already said it will oppose an application for membership by Scotland and in order to accede to the EU, approval must be given by all member states.

So do the Scottish people really want to be independent from the UK with no chance of joining the EU?

Furthermore, do Scots realise that currently we receive approximately £1,600 per person from Westminster in public funding under the Barnett formula – considerably more than is spent per capita in England and Wales – and that independence will also mean an end to that funding?

Tax hikes for businesses, tax hikes on income and council tax rises – a no-win situation for all Scots and don’t forget, the energy companies are pumping up the prices.

Emma BlackBurn, via email.

Grass would be greener

DO the people who are voting for independence know that an independent Scotland will never be able to match the pensions payable in England? No good looking enviously over the Border. Andrew dickson, coldstream,

Berwickshire.

Great Scottish Bake Off

NICOLA Sturgeon’s hoped-for referendum in 2018 would coincide with the advent of the new Scottish BBC TV channel. Why not combine the two events?

We could have the Great Scottish Referendum Bake Off. It could feature signature bakes such as Nicola Sturgeon’s upside down cake, John Swinney’s fudge cake and Kezia Dugdale’s rocky road.

The technical challenge could showcase Derek Mackay’s sourdough bread as well as making 63 identical Nationalist MSP hot cross buns.

The showstopper would be provided by Ruth Davidson as her traditional wedding cake celebrates a Union! Food for thought?

Gerald Edwards, Glasgow.

Family at war

JUST reconciled with my daughter, in the wake of the 2014 referendum, now Nicola Sturgeon foolishly wants to inflict even more division upon us by calling another.

G.E. muir, scone, Perthshire.

So when is Indyref 3?

WHAT a great pity Nicola Sturgeon has failed to recognise democracy when it comes to referendums.

Or is it a case of democracy – but only if the result is the one the Nationalists wants? Imagine their response if they had prevailed in 2014 and we, the ‘stayers’ had asked for a re-run? Fat chance!

The SNP has failed to show any efficiency when it comes to running education, police, transport and the NHS. How can it stand before us and demand we split from the UK when the majority have ruled otherwise? It must know from tax receipts we need support from the Union with the rest of the UK.

It seems that the SNP is only interested in splitting up the UK and not actually running the country for the benefit of all Scotland. When do they suggest Indyref 3 is run? Gordon Mccready, Eaglesham, renfrewshire.

It doesn’t add up

SINCE the EU referendum Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP have been banging on about Scotland being ‘dragged out of Europe against our will’, claiming 62 per cent of Scots voted to stay in the EU.

Of the 3,987,112 people eligible to vote, 1,661,191 chose to remain. That’s 41 per cent. colin Johnson, Eskbank,

midlothian.

The neverendum

AN opportunity to address whether or not the Scottish people want another referendum could be asked at local elections in May.

The question could be along the lines of: Do the people of Scotland want the last independence referendum to last for a generation? a. mcmillan, Glasgow.

Different rules for SNP?

THE First Minister claims that the 60 per cent Remain vote in the EU referendum gives her a mandate to take Scotland out of the UK if Scotland is taken out of the EU ‘against its will’.

Does it therefore follow that in a future independence referendum, should, for instance, Shetland or the Borders, vote 60 per cent to remain in the UK, they have a mandate to separate from Scotland and stay with the UK? Or is that not in the SNP rule book?

k. Underwood, maltby, yorks

Fearing the worst

NICOLA Sturgeon has finally come clean and ended the cat-and-mouse game she has been playing with not only the people of Scotland but the UK Government and shown her hand by seeking another independence referendum.

This announcement has been well planned in advance, not only to coincide with the triggering of Article 50 to leave the EU, but just within days of the SNP conference in Aberdeen when she can revel in the applause she will no doubt receive.

The whole of the UK is uncertain how the economy will be affected once Article 50 has been triggered.

It is a time when the entire country should remain united to weather any storms that may be ahead of us.

With a government in Scotland which has proven itself in the past ten years to be totally incapable of running the country, we should all fear the consequences an independent Scotland with the SNP at the helm. ELIZABETH CORBETT-ZOK, stepps, lanarkshire.

The third way

IT is near certain that Nicola Sturgeon has been advised that now is not the right time for another independence referendum.

There is no evidence that a majority of Scots want one or support independence – so she must now be hoping that Mrs May will say no and thus strengthen the grievance agenda that the SNP will need to get