Sturgeon’s independence obsession gave May power and means austerity stays

Had Nicola Sturgeon not opportunistically used Brexit as a pretext for another divisive independence poll, there would not have been such a strong resurgence in Tory support. With a dozen fewer Scottish Tory MP’S, the Conservatives would not now be able to govern as a minority government. That austerity now continues is down to Ms Sturgeon’s gross miscalculation.

And that mistake is now being compounded by the deal the Tories are making with the DUP to stay in power. The DUP are receiving £1.5 billion of increased spending in Northern Ireland on health and education, from the Magic Money Tree, and the possible abolition of Air Passenger Duty, one of the SNP’S main ambitions. Scotland receives nothing. What a total disaster.

PHIL TATE Craiglockhart Road, Edinburgh The rumour mill suggests Nicola Sturgeon, in her longawaited announcement on indyref2, will put her plans on hold. This is nonsensical on two counts. Firstly, the SNP’S raison d’etre is to separate Scotland from the rest of the UK and Ms Sturgeon will never cease in her relentless pursuit of this goal – whatever she claims in public.

Secondly, Conservative Scottish Secretary David Mundell has made clear there will be no further separation vote before the next Holyrood election in 2021. And then only if – and it’s a big if – there is a separatist majority in Holyrood. Downing Street holds all the cards, not the nationalists.

Ms Sturgeon’s stated views, while always entertaining, are, in this regard at least, utterly irrelevant.

MARTIN REDFERN Merchiston Gardens , Edinburgh Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie is right. He has been quoted saying nationalists are “keeping the referendum on the table because for the SNP independence will always be first and foremost”.

How right he is! And there are fundamental reasons for this. Scots will then always get the government they vote for, not the Tories in Theresa May’s botched regime. Scots voted to remain in the EU and not for Brexit. There would be no Evel aka English votes for everyone’s laws. No House of Lords where unelected flunkies get posted to boost the Tories. Above all else, the debilitating incorporating Union of 1707, which for the three unionist parties and Willie Rennie in particular, will always be “first and foremost”, would cease to exist after independence!

JOHN EDGAR Gilmours Avenue, Blackford