Ballots must be legal

Sir, - It is easy to see some of the appalling police actions in Catalonia as simply an attack on the ‘right to vote’.

No doubt former Holyrood presiding officer Tricia Marwick witnessed some frightful scenes (as reported in The Courier on October 3).

None of this should blind us to the fact that this right has to take place within a legal framework.

We expect the ballot to be secret, conducted with order and protocol at well equipped polling stations, and the votes to be counted efficiently and impartially.

Above all, perhaps, we expect the votes cast to have a clear outcome – the election of councillors, MSPs and MPs to represent us in a democratic chamber.

In referendums we need to know the preference of the majority, even if we continue to argue about what the result actually means for our lives.

The conduct of the polls should be so watertight they cannot be challenged in the courts.

Whether we like it or not the systems in Catalonia and Scotland are different.

In 2014 a referendum on independence was conducted after an agreement between the Governments in London and Edinburgh.

This ensured that the vote was binary (no third choice on ‘devo-max’), that it had to be held by the end of that year, and that it had to be conducted according to rules laid down by the Electoral Commission.

There was an agreement, too, that both Governments would respect the outcome (whatever that meant).

Over the piece the referendum in Scotland was carried out in a peaceful, fair and democratic manner.

Those who seek independence for Catalonia through the referendum method need to heed that example, despite all the difficulties.

If they don’t there will be no lasting solution to their ambitions. Bob Taylor. 24 Shiel Court, Glenrothes.

The SNP’s campaign to take Scotland out of the UK bears no comparison to the unilateral demand by wealthy Barcelona to off-load impoverished Spanish regions such as Extremadura and Andalusia