She had the power

Joyce Mcmillan ( Perspective, 16 October) claims that “Boris Johnson's Covid failings and Brexit help explain why Scotland is heading for independence”. Citing a study f rom Imperial College which calculated excess deaths in Europe, and highlighting the situation in England and Wales, Ms Mcmillan points out that “The relatively successful countries were those which were willing to lock down early when the need for restrictions became apparent”, apparently forgetting that the NHS in Scotland is fully devolved and the Edinburgh Nike outbreak in February presented the Scottish Government with the perfect reason for an early lock down if Nicola Sturgeon had wanted to do so.

Ms Macmillan then states that“the UK Government even failed, with historic bad timing, to implement the recommendations of its own ‘world-class ’2016 Cygnus pandemic preparedness exercise, including the purchase of emergency stockpiles of personal protective equipment”. Again, Ms Macmillan seems to have missed the fact that the Scottish Government was a full party to the Cygnus Report and that the Scottish Government has the powers to act on its findings. Any lack of preparedness or shortages of PPE and other equipment in Scotland was a Scottish, not UK, responsibility.

Finally, she states that any break up, if it comes, will be “because of a profound and growing difference of political opinion” within the UK. She may not have noticed, but there are profound and growing difference of political opinion in Scotland. The not entirely rational implication of Ms Mcmillan's position being that if we disagree within Scotland it's all right, but if we disagree within the UK then we must break up the UK.

It's understood that Scottish Nationalists like Joyce Mcmillan want to break up the UK. It's an indication of the weakness of their case that they are unable to base it on actual facts and evidence or on even a basic level of logical consistency.

ALEX GALLAGHER

( Labour councillor) Ward 8, North Ayrshire Council