Divisive drive for Indyref 2 can only damage Scotland
WITH the long overdue report from the SNP Growth Commission finally about to be made public, Nicola Sturgeon is preparing her favourite hobby-horse for another outing and says she wants to ‘restart the debate on independence’. Talk about flogging a dead horse. Most of us remember nearly three years of debate before the 2014 referendum, accompanied by the now infamous White Paper running to more than 600 pages, so it is hard to see what new arguments can be added, other than grievances over Brexit. The Growth Commission was set up by Miss Sturgeon in September 2016, two years after Indyref 1, and was due to report by the end of that year. With a remit to make the case for the viability and need for independence, and stuffed with current and former SNP politicians and business supporters, each with a lifetime connected to the SNP hive, the commission was hardly unbiased. Despite this, it has clearly struggled to produce a plausible report. Finally, after nearly two years, the SNP spin doctors have no doubt rewritten much of the 400-page report to remove inconvenient truths and come up with a ‘PR gloss’ of nice warm words about a prosperous, fairer, progressive and independent Scotland. Isn’t it strange that in Miss Sturgeon’s mind, independence offers great opportunities for Scotland, while Brexit offers only despair? No matter how hard she tries, Nicola Sturgeon cannot hide the contradictions between her stance on Brexit and her dream of independence. How can she argue that Brexit will result in economic and social upheaval and damage to our international relationships and pose a material risk to the economy and the well-being of our citizens, while independence has none of those downsides? This is sheer fantasy, and the upheaval and damage from independence, and even just another divisive debate and referendum, will cause untold harm to an already struggling Scotland under the SNP. ALAN WYLLIE, Largs, Ayrshire. IT was not so very long ago that the First Minister reassured us that there would not be another independence referendum unless the people of Scotland wanted one. Yet, in the face of pressure from pro-independence marchers, candidates to be her deputy and predecessor Alex Salmond’s INDYREF 2 will simply be like the swallowing of a cyanide pill. While 45 per cent of the Scottish population may still hanker after independence, less than 30 per cent would like to see another referendum in the near future. Sadly, it is all about Nicola Sturgeon and not about Scotland. The day job has been totally ignored. Nicola Sturgeon’s agenda has been all about taxing the rich and defying economic reality. She has no economic competence, only a misguided belief that she can reinvent the capitalist system. It will not work. Ruth Davidson will beat the First Minister by a substantial margin at the next Holyrood election.
PETER de VINK, Temple, Midlothian. ‘Declaration of Morningside’, in which he said he would return to the fray when Indyref 2 is called, it appears Nicola Sturgeon is once again ready to restart the independence debate. The views of the majority in Scotland are, it seems, less of a priority now that the available time for a full campaign before the next Holyrood election is running out. KEITH HOWELL, West Linton,
Peeblesshire.