UK no longer represents Scotland’s interests

Sir, The hodge-podge of halfbaked assertions served up by Brexiteers Gee and Abendroth in last week’s Courier cannot go unchallenged.

Scotland, which voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU, faces a grim future where our vital national interests – our economy, jobs, freedom to travel, workers’ rights and much else – have been put at risk by a Tory electoral gamble that has massively misfired in England.

Readers will recall that the Better Together side in the independence referendum guaranteed that only a No could keep Scotland in the EU.

The truth is the UK can no longer defend or represent Scotland’s interests, and many people who were previously No are re-evaluating their position and concluding that if Scotland’s place in the heart of Europe is to be secured they will vote Yes in a second independence referendum.

Mr Gee, like many in the No and Brexit camp, flags up the difficulties in the fishing industry, but omits that it was a Tory British government that designated the Scots fleet as ‘expendable’ for what were essentially English interests. Our fishing communities need access to EU markets to survive, Mr Gee, not opportunistic grandstanding.

There is a massive economic Brexit bonus for an independent Scotland remaining in the EU, gifting us the opportunity to attract tens of thousands of high-paying jobs and inward investment from both the EU and England.

Mr Gee highlights the importance of the English market with the hint that Scotland would be subject to tariffs, but an England outside the EU would still need

to agree to the free movement of goods and people throughout the European Economic Area.

The alternative is economic suicide that the Brexit leadership and Farage understand full well.

Nicola Sturgeon is leaving no stone unturned to keep Scotland in the EU but messrs Gee and Abendroth should be under no illusion. Scotland as a nation voted to stay in the EU and we will not shut up and obediently take the Tory medicine as in the past. The clock is ticking on indyref2. Ron Wilson Secretary, Campbeltown and Kintyre Branch SNP