UK union is more important than EU link

Madam, – I voted Remain, accepted the result, buried my concerns about Boris for a few weeks and still hope he’ll sort things out.

I voted no in 2014, haven’t changed my mind one iota and spend many hours a week campaigning to get our UK and Scottish politicians to unite to rid Scotland of this grim nationalist cult that is trying to bully, con, fantasise and Brexitise us out of the UK.

Scotland remaining in the UK is a thousand times more important to me than the UK leaving the EU and I will vote for any party or combination of parties that has the arguments and energy to achieve that, most importantly by winning the 2021 Holyrood election.

The tragedy of all this Brexit and Scexit turmoil is neither will solve the basic disasters facing my country.

The scandalous decline in education and the disadvantage it bequeaths the next generation when it comes to competing in a world where prosperity will depend on knowledge, skills and perseverance, our self inflicted poor health that shackles the NHS and limits many from putting their all into work and family life, the lack of good cheap housing that would enable families to thrive, and the looming crisis where provision of decent old age care will be out of reach of the majority and rob hard workers of their houses and savings.

The powers to fix this are all “devolved” powers in Westminster and Holyrood, almost nothing to do with Brussels.

The UK Government has been immersed in Brexit and diverted from these issues for four years now.

The nationalist government here has been happily, studiously, embroiled in Scexit for the past eight years and only last week a bitterly fought freedom of expression inquiry finally exposed the scale of the effort and its ongoing destruction of day-to-day and strategic public administration in Scotland.

Like everyone in the country, whether they admit it or not, I don’t know the answer to the Brexit question other than swallowing our pride and staying in, or accepting the backstop and agreeing to the May deal.

I do know, however, that once it is solved the SNP’s duplicity, incompetence and lack of vision or plan for Scexit will come into sharp focus.

As will the Scottish opposition’s ability and desire to hold them to account and produce the policies and willingness to work together to get them voted out of Holyrood in 2021.

Allan Sutherland. 1 Willow Row, Stonehaven.