All the answers

Nicola Sturgeon and her team have offered masterclasses in hype, hope and obfuscationas-clarity in the last few days, a kind of Indyref2 flu jab to get the hardcore, and the party, through the winter.

The leadership know there won’t be a no-deal Brexit, they won’t get a legal Indyref2 in return for supporting a ‘People’s Vote, and their record in government and the Growth Commission report has shredded their case for independence.

Their best hope is having a commitment to Indyref2 in their 2021 Holyrood manifesto. At the moment the polls show they’ve more chance of winning that than a referendum in the next two years.

Hopefully this will be a contest based on the SNP’S poor performance since 2007 and yet-to-be-produced, compelling policies of opposition parties who are against independence and another referendum. The elephant not in the reliable opposition room, however, is Scottish Labour. I haven’t a clue what they stand for when it comes to the UK constitution and fear they are open to a coalition with the SNP.

ALLAN SUTHERLAND Willow Row, Stonehaven

It’s unfair of the SNP to have all the solutions to problems

plaguing the UK Government. An independent Scotland in the EU (their dream, it would seem) would have a border with England. How would that work? If they know then they should help Westminster and the EU solve the Irish border problem. However, I suspect their answer is as real as their plans to resolve both the Scottish deficit and debt issue. Is this what the ‘Hope’ message of their conference is all about?

KEN CURRIE Liberton Drive, Edinburgh

Nicola Sturgeon tells us that the only solution to potential Brexit problems is to have a hard border between Northern Ireland and Scotland and between Scotland and England (incidentally the exact location of that latter, particularly at the western end , is debatable and could well be a major stumbling block in any negotiations. I wonder whether hundreds of workers will welcome having to go through daily passport control just to get to work).

Unless Nicola plans to build a whole new merchant fleet the new hard border will effectively also be between Scotland and Europe, so it beats me how her plans could be a solution to trade problems with our current biggest and second biggest customers.

Mostofusarenowthoroughly aware that the SNP white paper of the 2014 referendum was even more of a con than the hard Brexiteers’ red bus. Exactly how long and at what cost does Nicola think it will take to set up an independent Scotland to the standard necessary for EU membership?

Our current annual deficit is about £10 billion, we will have to shoulder our share of UK debt, and at least 5,000 jobs will be lost through Faslane closure (and what about Grangemouth?).

There is no way that RBS will be allowed to operate as an “offshore” entity, we will

have at times a huge surplus of renewables generation capacity no longer paid for by UK consumers but no base load generation, so our independent Scotland will rely entirely on imports from England just to exist, and in order to successfully

apply for Nato membership (one of the SNP aims) we will have to recruit, train and supply a sufficient defence force completely from scratch.

These are just a few of the easily foreseeable problems which will have to be solved

in the face of a highly divided and disaffected population. (DR) A MCCORMICK

Kirkland Road Terregles, Dumfries