A day the independence movement will smile about

Sir, – The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, based in London, England, has unanimously delivered its verdict giving a resounding “no” on whether Scotland is in fact an equal partner in the four nations of these islands.

The judges initially said it would take them many, many months to plough through the 8,000+ pages of documentary evidence.

Then after just a few short weeks they brought the date forward and delivered their verdict within about 10 minutes.

I do not think for a moment that they would have been speed-reading night and day throughout the intervening period.

While the judiciary has traditionally been independent of government, the Supreme Court and its judges will all undoubtedly be conservative with a small ‘c’ and wedded to the establishment.

I think history will look on today as a watershed moment and the final nail in the coffin for the United Kingdom.

It seems that, hypothetically, if 100% of Scottish people wanted independence then it still might not happen. That is absurd. Independence supporters should take heart as this decision can only galvanise and strengthen the movement.

I am confident that many who are currently sitting on the fence will today solidify their position, leading to yet another increase in the SNP membership.

We should recognise that today is a watershed moment for the independence movement and one day we can smile and look back at the judges’ decision with some satisfaction.

We should also take heart from the demonstrations today not only across Scotland but in Wales, Paris, Berlin, Munich, Brussels, Rome and Dublin.

I suspect the mainstream media will give scant, if any, coverage of these events.

No longer will we accept the mantra of “you have had your vote” or “now is not the time”.

Our time has come.

Stewart Falconer. Glenisla View, Alyth.