SNP admits we can’t pay our own way

Sir, – It was surreal to see Nicola Sturgeon smiling and shaking hands with a man whom she avowedly detests, as a Tory, namely the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Ms Sturgeon spoiled the impression with her intemperate complaints about and demands of the PM.

It was embarrassing to see her talking about the UK Government’s “lack of respect bordering on contempt” for the devolved nations, when the devolved nations are the ones that receive better funding than the English regions and when politicians of all parties tiptoe around the sensitivities of the devolved administrations.

It is evident that Ms Sturgeon’s attitude reached the proportions of farce when she said that only a “significant change in attitude from the UK Government” could improve relations between her regime and the UK Government.

She means, of course, that relations would improve only if the UK Government gave in to her unreasonable demands, most obviously for a referendum but also for “additional resources from Westminster”.

The SNP’S case for leaving the UK has always been based on the false premise that Scotland would be financially better off if it did. We have now seen a succession of SNP ministers – John Swinney, Humza Yousaf and Nicola Sturgeon – demanding more money from the UK Treasury, beyond what Scots can raise themselves and beyond all the extra money that the Treasury has provided Holyrood with over the last couple of years in the Covid crisis.

So much for Scots being better off on their own! It was always a myth, but now it is one that SNP ministers openly admit.

Their members and supporters should take note.

As for the “deep political disagreements” Sturgeon identifies between herself and Sunak, it seems never to have occurred to her that perhaps she should bring something to the table: that she should have something to offer.

She could, for example, give His Majesty’s government the choice of framing a referendum question, deciding on whether there should be a supermajority, choosing the composition of the electorate.

After all, Scottish secession is a matter not only for Scotland but for the whole of the UK. Jill Stephenson. Corstorphine, Edinburgh.

TALKS: Nicola Sturgeon with Michael Gove and Rishi Sunak and, on screen, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford at the British-irish Council summit in Blackpool.