The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Scotland would have been outside EU
Sir, - The SNP and Greens have voted for another Scottish referendum, allegedly because of Brexit.
What they fail to remember is that, if there had been a vote for secession in 2014, the new Scotland would by now have been out of the European Union for a whole year.
The EU made it clear in 2014 that, when a part of a member state secedes from that member state, it ceases to be a part of the EU also.
That means that Scotland would have ceased to be a member of both the UK and the EU on March 24 2016, its independence day.
The curious thing is that, now that Brexit is imminent, the pro-separation parties are becoming reluctant to contemplate applying to join the EU should there be a vote for secession.
They know that 36% of SNP voters also voted Leave last May.
They also know that an independent Scotland could not meet some of the EU’s membership criteria.
There is talk of applying to join EFTA or the EEA. One gets the impression that the secessionists are not really serious about EU membership after all. The conclusion to be drawn from that is that Brexit is a pretext for holding another referendum, and urgently, before the next Scottish Parliamentary elections can be held.
It is fair to conclude that, had the EU vote gone the other way, the separatists would have found some other excuse for calling for another referendum, something most Scots don’t want.
Jill Stephenson. Glenlockhart Valley, Edinburgh.