Leave UK and pay

At the time of the referendum, every suggestion that the snp’ s financial case for independence was seriously flawed was met with references to scaremongering, negativity or the ubiquitous “talking Scotland down”. The low oil price and the largest defecit in the EU have combined to prove that the naysayers were correct. However, the more domestic financial impact of leaving the UK has rarely been discussed.

For example, Scotland is the remotest part of the UK, with much more difficult transport issues than elsewhere. Yet the Post Office charges the same for a stamp to send your grandmother’s birthday card, whether from Shetland to Dumfries, or Notting Hill to Islington. The standard, averaged cost is hugely to Scotland’s benefit.

When your Chinese-made slippers arrive at Tilbury docks in Essex and are transported to your local Marks & Spencer, the price in the store will be the same whether it is in Inverness or just up the road in Basildon. Who has benefited from that averaged transport cost?

And if you decide to shop on the internet, the post and packing cost from any part of the world will be the same for the whole of mainland UK, despite it costing significantly more to reach Oban than Oxford.

Just check the international price tag on an item of clothing and observe the varying prices, in euro, in different parts of Europe. Greece, on the periphery, with a small population, pays significantly more per item than Germany, in a central location with a large population. Losing the economy of scale of the Uk,and our shared transport and infrastructure costs, would cost Scotland dear. We have yet to hear what independence would give us which would be worth the price. CAROLE FORD Terregles Avenue

Glasgow