Brexit together
I was shocked by Lesley Riddoch’s latest column (Perspective, 6 March). For her to scaremonger over the effects of Brexit – when actually the economy has grown and mortgage rates have fallen since the vote – is astounding.
Two years ago if anyone dared mention that taking Scotland out of the UK, out of the pound sterling and breaking up companies and pension schemes might not be a good idea, Ms Riddoch would have been screaming blue murder. Now she is attacking the constitutional chaos of Brexit without a hint of irony.
As this week’s report from economist Andrew Wilson shows, Scotland has lost £7 billion of revenue from the collapse in the oil industry that was promised in the White Paper – which would have lead to massive austerity had we listened to Lesley Riddoch two years ago.
The country needs to go through Brexit together and see where we land in five years’ time – more constitutional chaos is the last thing we need. MICHELLE SMYTHE Dalry Road, Edinburgh
Lesley Riddoch says that the only person talking about independence right now is the Prime Minister, seemingly failing to notice that virtually every one of her columns since 2014 has been framed in this context, often making the reference out of the most tenuous of links. The Scottish Government started talking about indyref2 less than a day after the last vote. It was the only message we heard during the EU referendum debate in Scot- land. Conduct an independence poll, and you can just about guarantee that it will be front page news in most papers. We are all obsessed with independence referendums in Scotland. We are completely taken in with the spectacle, preferring to examine our own navels in this way while all sorts of other things are going on in the world. In this context, Theresa May is right to be more assertive. VICTOR CLEMENTS
Taybridge Terrace Aberfeldy, Perthshire
Having read Lesley Riddoch’s latest SNP party political broadcast in The Scotsman, I have come to the conclusion she must be a devotee of the Just William novels of Richmal Crompton, and in particular the character of Violet Elizabeth Bott, whose catchphrase was “I’ll thcream and thcream ‘til I’m thick.i can you know”. This was how she got her own way and Ms Riddoch and Nicola Sturgeon appear to think that this tactic will work in Scotland as well as it did in the Just William novels.
I am far from being a Tory and sincerely regret the Brexit vote,butthepre-formedviews expressed by Ms Riddoch are anathema to anyone who genuinely values rational discussion on the future of Scotland. I am all for listening to all sides of the debate, but would suggest, being someone who regards himself as truly Scottish but values the connection with the other parts of the United Kingdom, that me and millions of Scots are equally as qualified as Ms Riddoch to express a view on the current toxic situation, primarily created by the SNP and their adherents.
JOHN DONALD Essex Road, Edinburgh
The difficult position Nicola Sturgeon finds herself in is all of her own making. The latest opinion poll shows even more Scots are against the thought of an independence referendum than before, with perhaps a two-to-one majority wanting no more referendums until at least the outcome of Brexit is fully understood. Previously the First Minister reassured us there would not be another referendum unless we wanted one.
Yet the SNP’S absolute focus on engineering a second referendum off the back of the Brexit result has led her to the point where the SNP faithful expect it to be announced at their spring conference in two weeks’ time. So what matters most, the people of Scotland or the SNP’S ambition?
KEITH HOWELL West Linton, Peeblesshire