The real reason Nicola Sturgeon won’t take the threat of indyref2 off the table

Since the general election the clamour to get Nicola Sturgeon to take indyref2 “off the table” has redoubled. She will never withdraw her demand for a second referendum and it is nothing to do with Brexit, that is just the current excuse for keeping the threat in place.

The truth is that if the possibility of a second referendum is removed the SNP will disintegrate. The SNP is not a party, it is a movement which adopts populist policies to retain power and whose membership consists of widely diverse right wingers, left wingers,

Brexiteers, remainers, etc. All that keeps them together is their overriding obsession to break up the UK. The wildly differing views within the SNP mean that if that ambition is removed, self destruction is inevitable. Ms Sturgeon is painfully aware of this.

DR RICHARD MARSH

Bellabeg House Strathdon, Aberdeenshire

Not many people object to the SNP’S core objective of Scottish independence, but after three elections where their support has declined by around

500,000 votes we are entitled to some clarity and fairness on how they wish to pursue their goal. Surely the best way would be for Nicola Sturgeon to announce a halt to all current efforts to secure a referendum, irrespective of any ongoing or upcoming “material changes in circumstances”. Instead the SNP will include a commitment to indyref2 in their manifesto for the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections.

An election won on these terms will give them an unequivocal mandate for indyref2 in, say, 2023. In this way the

SNP would be seen to be getting behind the UK Brexit negotiations and have six years to develop a convincing plan for separation, including policies on currency, Europe, defence, Nato and Trident and an economy which is not underwritten by the UK.

It would also give them the opportunity to use existing powers to transform our education, social care, healthcare, housing and finances and show the electorate they have the ability, vision and determination to get our country in a fit state to go it alone. After

ten years of underwhelming performance, spin and crying wolf, the SNP owes us such straightforward approach.

ALLAN SUTHERLAND Willow Row, Stonehaven

Diverging views within the senior ranks of the SNP over indyref2 following the general election result in Scotland can be easily resolved (“SNP split over whether to press ahead with indyref2”, 19 June). Scotland is also waiting patiently for our First Minister to let us in on where she now stands, just as her colleagues await

news of what the new party line is to be so that they can get on message. Nicola Sturgeon’s apparent hesitancy to end this uncertainty contrasts with how quickly she delivered her second independence referendum ultimatum following the EU referendum result.

The trouble with issuing threats on behalf of Scotland is that they can soon sound rather hollow if it becomes all too clear that the people of Scotland have other ideas.

KEITH HOWELL

White Moss West Linton, Peeblesshire